Chapoltlacomolco (CQ)

Chapoltlacomolco (CQ)
Compound Glyph

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description:

This compound glyph for the place name Capoltlacomolco ("In Cherry-Tree Gully") has two notable features. One is a capolin (cherry-like) tree. The other is a pair of cacti that bracket the tree with the intention of conveying a sense of its being in the gully or in the middle (-tlacomolco). The tree has a rounded cap of vegetation and a spiky trunk. Red fruit are not visible the way they are on other examples of this tree. The cacti appear to be nopalli, but that term does not have a role in the phonetics of the place name; rather, it plays a semantic role, informing the viewer of the nature of the landscape.

Description, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis:

The gloss literally refers to a grasshopper (chapolin), but the visual is clearly a tree, so we are betting on the gloss having an errant "h" in the orthography of the noun in question. For another similar capolin tree on this same manuscript, see Capollan (below). For a very different capolin tree, from the Codex Mendoza, see also the additional example below. If chapolin is really intended, then perhaps the capolin is used as a homophone. The latter would result in a place name of "In Grasshopper Gully."

Added Analysis, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Gloss Image:

Gloss Diplomatic Transcription:

chapoltlacomolco

Gloss Normalization:

Capoltlacomolco

Gloss Analysis, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Source Manuscript:

Quetzalecatzin, Codex (CQ)

Date of Manuscript:

covers ruling men and women of Tecamachalco through 1593

Creator's Location (and place coverage):

southern Puebla state

Semantic Categories:

homophony, rebus

place name

Syntax:

noun(s)

Cultural Content & Iconography:

Agriculture, Gardens, Stock Raising

Landscape Features

Names (places)

Plants, Flora

Socio-Political Units, Cities, Towns, Neighborhoods

Cultural Content, Credit:

Randall Rodríguez

Colors:

green (dark)

Shapes and Perspectives:

Parts (compounds or simplex + notation):

Reading Order (Compounds or Simplex + Notation):

outward (from inside out)

Other Cultural Influences:

Mixtec

Keywords:

places, lugares, trees, arboles, cacti, cactuses, nombres de lugares

Glyph or Iconographic Image:

Relevant Nahuatl Dictionary Word(s):

capol(in), a cherry-like tree, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/capolin
chapol(in), grasshopper, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/chapolin
-tlacomulco (locative), in the gully, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/tlacomolco-0

Additional Scholars' Interpretations:

P[ueblo] Ch[a]poltlacomolco “In the Ravine of the Grasshoppers?” Matthew T. McDavitt, “Placenames in the Codex Quetzalecatzin,” unpublished essay shared 2-21-2018.

Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation:

en el barranco de la fruta de capulín

Spanish Translation, Credit:

Ofelia Cruz Morales

Image Source:

The Codex Quetzalecatzin, aka Mapa de Ecatepec-Huitziltepec, Codex Ehecatepec-Huitziltepec, or Charles Ratton Codex. Library of Congress. https://www.loc.gov/item/2017590521/

Image Source, Rights:

The Library of Congress, current custodian of this pictorial Mexican manuscript, hosts a digital version online. It is not copyright protected.

Historical Contextualizing Image: