Chichiccuauhtla (Mdz32r)

Chichiccuauhtla (Mdz32r)
Compound Hieroglyph

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description:

This compound Nahuatl hieroglyph stands for the place name, Chichiccuauhtla ("Chichiccuahuitl Trees Abound"). It features a representation of a dog (chichi), in profile, facing to the right, crouching or lying on the ground, and with a red tongue protruding. The dog is white with large black spots and a long tail. Its ears are erect and pointing forward, and some of its teeth are visible. The dog serves as a phonetic indicator for the start of the place name Chichic-. Emerging from the back of the dog is a standard tree (cuahuitl), with a leader and two branches, two-tone green foliage at the end of each branch, terracotta-colored bark, a thick and a thin diagonal stripe across the trunk. The stripes (tlilcuahuitl) are a phonetic indicator that ensures the reading of cuahuitl. The locative suffix (-tla, or -tlah, if we show the glottal stop) is not shown visually.

Description, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Descripción del glifo o de la imagen iconográfica:

Este jeroglífico compuesto náhuatl representa el topónimo Chichiccuauhtla (“Abundancia de árboles de chichiccuahuitl”) y nos muestra a un perro (chichi) de perfil que mira hacia la derecha, agazapado o yaciente y con la lengua roja de fuera, rabilargo y de pelaje blanco con grandes manchas negras, además de mostrar algunos de sus dientes y tener las orejas paradas que apuntan hacia adelante. El can funge como un indicador fonético de las dos primeras sílabas del topónimo (Chichic-). Un árbol (cuahuitl) surge de su lomo, con una rama principal y dos secundarias con follaje verde bitonal al extremo de cada una, una corteza color ocre y una franja diagonal gruesa y otra delgada que atraviesan el tronco. Dichas franjas (tlilcuahuitl) son un indicador fonético que nos obliga a leer el glifo como cuahuitl. El sufijo locativo (-tla o -tlah con la oclusiva glotal) no aparece de manera visual.

Traducción de la descripción, crédito:

Ricardo A. Iriarte Valdés

Added Analysis:

There is a tree called a chichiccuahuitl, that produces quinine, as described in our Online Nahuatl Dictionary. The Gran Diccionario Nahuatl spells it chichicuahuitl). The gloss supports a reading of chichic- (bitter), which Berdan and Anawalt recognize. The dog (chichi) is there to provide the phonetic information for the start of the name, Chichic-, making it a disyllabogram/phonogram. [See Gordon Whittaker, 2021, 222, for a list of similar disyllabograms.] The tree (cuahuitl) is a logogram for the second part of the name. The black stripes (tlilcuahuitl) are another phonogram.

Added Analysis, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Análisis adicional:

En nuestro Online Nahuatl Dictionary se describe un árbol productor de quinina llamado chichiccuahuitl , el cual aparece como chichicuahuitl en el Gran Diccionario Náhuatl. La glosa nos indica que debe interpretarse como chichic- (amargo), con lo cual están de acuerdo Berdan y Anawalt. El perro (chichi) proporciona la información fonética de las dos primeras sílabas del topónimo (Chichic-), lo cual lo convierte en un disilabograma/fonograma: véase una lista de disilabogramas parecidos en Gordon Whittaker (2021: 222). El árbol (cuahuitl) es un logograma para la segunda parte del topónimo, mientras que las franjas negras (tlilcuahuitl) son otro fonograma.

Traducción del análisis, crédito:

Ricardo A. Iriarte Valdés

Gloss or Text Image:

Gloss/Text Diplomatic Transcription:

chichicquavtla. pu^o

Gloss/Text Normalization:

Chichicuauhtla, pueblo (or Chichiccuauhtla)

Gloss/Text 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:

phonetic dimensions

place name

Syntax:

locative (not visual)

noun(s)

syllables/two: chichi or chichic (from chichi, dog)

Writing Features:

compound of phonogram(s) & logogram(s)

Cultural Content & Iconography:

Socio-Political Units, Cities, Towns, Neighborhoods

Teeth Protruding/Noticeable

Tongue Protruding/Noticeable

Cultural Content, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Colors:

Shapes and Perspectives:

Parts (compounds or simplex + notation):

Reading Order (Compounds or Simplex + Notation):

upward

Keywords:

dogs, perros, perras, trees, árboles, bitter, amargo, nombres de lugares, fonetismo, a favorite, place names, topónimos

Glyph or Iconographic Image:

Relevant Nahuatl Dictionary Word(s):

chichi, dog, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/chichi
cuahui(tl), tree, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/cuahuitl-1
chichiccuahui(tl), a medicinal tree, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/chichiccuahuitl
-tlan (locative suffix), https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/tlan
tlilcuahui(tl), black stripe(s), https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/tlilcuahuitl

Karttunen’s Interpretation:

"Where There Are Many Chichiquauhtla Trees" (agreeing with Berdan and Anawalt) [Frances Karttunen, unpublished manuscript, used here with her permission.]

Additional Scholars' Interpretations:

"Where There Are Many Chichiquauhtla Trees" (Berdan and Anawalt, 1992, vol. 1, p. 177)

Image Source:

Codex Mendoza, folio 32 recto, https://digital.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/objects/2fea788e-2aa2-4f08-b6d9-648c00..., image 74 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).