chapolicxitl (Mdz8r)

chapolicxitl (Mdz8r)
Simplex Glyph

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description:

This simplex glyph for a grasshopper foot (chapolicxitl) also stands for the place name, Chapolicxitlan. It is a two-tone green, textured, bent grasshopper leg, the leg used for jumping. The part with the attached foot has hairs coming off of it. The upper part of the leg has a pattern that is like a row of v's.

Description, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis:

Here, the visual is of a full leg, but without the full leg, the foot alone would be difficult to recognize. The details of the leg are worth comparing to the full insect (shown, below right). This leg is the one used for jumping, and it is quite different from the other smaller legs on the full grasshopper. The attention to detail in the full image also helps confirm the reading, for instance, when looking at photographs of grasshoppers. The bent position of the leg recalls the use of the bent deer leg to stand for choloa (see below, right).

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

Syntax:

noun(s)

Cultural Content & Iconography:

Animals, incl. Birds, Bugs, Insects, Reptiles, etc.

Colors:

green (dark)

green (light)

Glyph or Iconographic Image:

Relevant Nahuatl Dictionary Word(s):

chapolicxi(tl), grasshopper foot, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/chapolicxitl

Image Source:

Codex Mendoza, folio 8 recto, https://digital.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/objects/2fea788e-2aa2-4f08-b6d9-648c00..., image 26, 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).