calli (Mdz42r)

calli (Mdz42r)
Element from a Compound

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description: 

This element for a house or building (calli) doubles as the compound sign for the place name, Tecalco. It was not possible to separate the house from the stone (tetl) of Tecalco. Otherwise, the building is the standard rectangular sign with T-shaped wooden beams in an orange color. It is shown in a profile view, facing toward the viewer's right.

Description, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis: 

Joaquín Galarza argued that this standard sign for calli was half of a building. But, if we flipped the building over and joined the two pieces together, the beam across the top would not be continuous because of the roof that hangs over the end of the beam.

Added Analysis, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Source Manuscript: 
Mendoza/Mendocino, Codex (Mdz)
Date of Manuscript: 

c. 1541, but by 1553 at the latest

Creator's Location (and place coverage): 

Mexico City

Semantic Categories: 
calendrics
day name
year name
Syntax: 
noun(s)
Cultural Content & Iconography: 
Architecture, Construction, Buildings
Time, Calendar, Frequency
Wood, wooden things
Cultural Content, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Colors: 
orange/terracotta
purple
Shapes and Perspectives: 
elevation view
facing right
profile view
rectangular
right angle(s)
Keywords: 

houses, buildings, architecture, casas, edificios, arquitectura

Glyph or Iconographic Image: 
Relevant Nahuatl Dictionary Word(s): 

cal(li), house, hut, building, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/calli

Additional Scholars' Interpretations: 

house or building

Spanish Translation, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Image Source: 

Codex Mendoza, folio 42 recto, https://digital.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/objects/2fea788e-2aa2-4f08-b6d9-648c00..., image 94 of 188.

Image Source, Rights: 

The Bodleian Libraries, University of Oxford, hold the original manuscript, the MS. Arch. Selden. A. 1. This image is published here under the UK Creative Commons, “Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 License” (CC-BY-NC-SA 3.0).

See Also: 

Tecalco (Mdz42r)