cempohualmatl (T1871:1)

The distinction between matl and maitl is something we are watching. It may be that matl is used more for measurements. The hand is also a common phonetic indicator for the when referring to the body or for the phonetic indicators for -ma- (to take, grab) and -man (from mani, "is").

It is a challenge to differentiate between the panitl (or pamitl), pantli, and tecpantli, for they look very much alike most of the time. For now, when the banner has an association with a number, we are using pantli or tecpantli, and when it is a phonetic locative for a place name, we are using panitl. Apparently panitl was more common in "Mexico, the Tepanec heartland, and perhaps Colhuacan and Chalco," and pamitl in "northern and eastern flanks of the Valley of Mexico" (Jorge Klor de Alva, in The Work of Bernardino de Sahagún: Pioneer Ethnographer of Sixteenth-century Aztec Mexico (Albany, NY: Institute for Mesoamerican Studies, the University at Albany, State University of New York, 1988), 323.

We are also watching for the use of tecpantli and panitl. For now, when the banner has an association with a number, we are using tecpantli, and when it is a locative for a place name, we are using panitl. In the Tetzcoco area, the spelling pamitl was more common.

Note the comparisons with this banner and those, below, from other manuscripts. In those cases, the banner is a rectangle, and it does not have the indentation.