Chapoltepec (Osu1v)

Chapoltepec (Osu1v)
Compound Glyph

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description:

This colorful compound glyph for the place name Chapoltepec ("Grasshopper Hill") shows the classical bell-shaped sign for hill or mountain. The hill is green. It has a red horizontal line--surrounded by white--near its base. This is the site where a natural spring might emerge. On top of the hill is a grasshopper in profile, facing toward the viewer's right. Its legs are bent and its wings are raised slightly. It has two horizontal, straight antennae coming off its head.

Description, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis:

For other renditions of grasshoppers, see below. Chapulines (as the term entered Spanish) are still an item in the Mexican diet.

Added Analysis, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Gloss Image:

Gloss Diplomatic Transcription:

[C]hapultepec

Gloss Normalization:

Chapoltepec (Chapultepec today)

Gloss Analysis, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Date of Manuscript:

1565

Creator's Location (and place coverage):

Mexico City

Semantic Categories:

place name

Writing Features:

compound fully logographic

Cultural Content & Iconography:

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

Landscape Features

Names (places)

Cultural Content, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Colors:

green (dark)

red

white/neutral

Shapes and Perspectives:

bell-shaped (upright)

facing right

profile view

Parts (compounds or simplex + notation):

Reading Order (Compounds or Simplex + Notation):

downward

Keywords:

hills, mountains, grasshoppers, cerros, montañas, chapulines

Museum & Rare Book Comparisons:

Museum/Rare Book Notes:

Stone carving of a chapolin found in the Museo de Escultura Mexica, Tlalnepantla, Mexico. The signage mentions how the insect can jump, how it is a food, and how it is considered a harbinger of calamities associated with drought and hunger. Photo by Stephanie Wood, 16 August 2023.

Glyph or Iconographic Image:

Image Source:

Library of Congress Online Catalog and the World Digital Library, https://www.loc.gov/item/2021667702, image 5. The original is located in the Biblioteca Nacional de España.

Image Source, Rights:

"The Library of Congress is unaware of any copyright or other restrictions in the World Digital Library Collection. Absent any such restrictions, these materials are free to use and reuse."

Orthography:

"u" for o

Historical Contextualizing Image: