Ce Acatl (Mdz2r)

Ce Acatl (Mdz2r)
Simplex Glyph
Notation

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description: 

This combined simplex glyph and notation for the solar year (xihuitl) date One Reed has the notation (a single one, ce) to the right of the glyph for reed (acatl). This is the usual representation of the reed as found in calendrical glyphs--and many other glyphs--upright, in a frontal view, and with the decorations of feathers, much like the arrow (mitl) or dart. At the bottom of the short reed is a small, symbolic apantli (canal or waterway), shown in cross-section. The notation for the number one in this case is a circle with a smaller concentrical circle.

Description, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis: 

Some notations for ones in the Codex Mendoza, alternatively, will have dots and some will be empty circles. The notations will also have a placement that varies (see below for other examples). The entire date (including the background) is painted a turquoise blue (xihuitl) color, representing the intentional use of the homophone for year (also xihuitl), and it is enclosed in a black line-drawing box (which is not shown here), also meant to say "year." Calendrics were an important element in the Nahuas' religious views of the cosmos.

Added Analysis, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

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

c. 1541, or by 1553 at the latest

Creator's Location (and place coverage): 

Mexico City

Semantic Categories: 
calendrics
day name
year name
homophony, rebus
numbers
phonetic dimensions
Syntax: 
noun(s)
Writing Features: 
simplex or element as logogram
Cultural Content & Iconography: 
Feathers
Numbers, Math
Plants, Flora
Religion (Indigenous)
Time, Calendar, Frequency
Water
Weapons, Shields, Armor
Cultural Content, Credit: 

Xitlali Torres and Stephanie Wood

Colors: 
blue (turquoise)
Shapes and Perspectives: 
circle(s) (small, often concentric)
cross-sectioned object
frontal view
vertical, upright
Parts (compounds or simplex + notation): 
2
Reading Order (Compounds or Simplex + Notation): 
right to left
Keywords: 

dates, fechas, calendars, calendarios, números, cañas, carrizos, flechas, plantas, plumas, canales, xiuhpohualli, año, turquesa, xihuitl

Museum & Rare Book Comparisons: 
Museum/Rare Book Notes: 

ome acatl. Detail from the "Teocalli de la Guerra Sagrada." A much smaller one also appears at the top of the cane, near the square that surrounds the date glyph, but it is not clear whether it should be added into the notation. Museo Nacional de Antropología e Historia, Salón Mexica. Photograph by Stephanie Wood, 14 February, 2023.

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

Ce Acatl, one reed, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/ce-acatl
ce, one, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/ce
aca(tl), reed or reed arrow, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/acatl

Image Source: 

Codex Mendoza, folio 02 recto, https://digital.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/objects/2fea788e-2aa2-4f08-b6d9-648c00..., image 14 out 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: 

Acapan (Mdz20r)

acatl (Mdz23r)

Ce Calli (Mdz2r)

apantli (Mdz20r)

atl (Mdz7v)

Ce Acatl (MH658r)

Ce Acatl (MH737r)