Chichiccuauhtla (Osu35r)

Chichiccuauhtla (Osu35r)
Compound Hieroglyph

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description: 

This painted compound Nahuatl hieroglyph represents the place name, Chichiccuauhtla (perhaps, "Place of Abundant Bitter Trees"). Chichiccuahuitl (sometimes spelled chichicuahuitl) trees or quinine trees are other translations. Alternately, the second of the double c's could drop and be replaced with -h-, for huauhtli (amaranth), which would result in "Place of Abundant Bitter Amaranth." If any of these translations is correct, then the dog's (chichi) head serves as a phonetic indicator for chichic (bitter). This head is a mottled gray and white, shown in profile, and facing the viewer's right. The tree has a long, thin, vertical trunk painted brown on one side and white or gray on the other, as though to show a source of light from the left. But the greenery of the tree is lighter on the right, as though the source of light is on the right. The shading suggests a three-dimensionality.

Description, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis: 

There is a Chichicuauhtla in the municipality of Tepeyahualco, in the state of Puebla, Mexico, today. The loss of a -c- is not surprising considering the general evolution of place name orthography.

Added Analysis, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Gloss or Text Image: 
Gloss/Text Diplomatic Transcription: 

chichic quauh tla

Gloss/Text Normalization: 

Chichiccuauhtla

Gloss/Text Analysis, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Source Manuscript: 
Osuna, Codex (Osu)
Date of Manuscript: 

1551–1565

Creator's Location (and place coverage): 

Mexico City

Semantic Categories: 
place name
Syntax: 
noun(s)
Writing Features: 
compound of phonogram(s) & logogram(s)
Cultural Content & Iconography: 
Animals: Dogs
Names (places)
Plants, Flora
Cultural Content, Credit: 

Jeff Haskett-Wood

Colors: 
gray
green (light)
white/neutral
Shapes and Perspectives: 
facing right
profile view
shading and parallel line hatching
spotted or mottled
three-dimensionality
Parts (compounds or simplex + notation): 
2
Reading Order (Compounds or Simplex + Notation): 
upward
Keywords: 

árbol, árboles, abundancia, amargo, quinina, perro, perros, nombres de lugares, topónimo, topónimos, place names

Glyph or Iconographic Image: 
Relevant Nahuatl Dictionary Word(s): 

chichic, something bitter, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/chichic
cuahui(tl), tree, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/cuahuitl-1
huauh(tli), amaranth, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/huauhtli
chichi, dog, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/chichi
-tla, place of abundance of something, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/tla-1

Additional Scholars' Interpretations: 

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

Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation: 

Donde Hay una Abundancia de Árboles Amargos

Spanish Translation, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Image Source: 

Library of Congress Online Catalog and the World Digital Library, Osuna Codex, or Painting of the Governor, Mayors, and Rulers of Mexico, https://www.loc.gov/resource/gdcwdl.wdl_07324/. 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." But please cite the Biblioteca Nacional de España and this Visual Lexicon of Aztec Hieroglyphs if you use any of these images here or refer to the content on this page, providing the URL

Orthography: 
"q" for c
Historical Contextualizing Image: 
See Also: 

Chichiccuauhtla (Mdz32r)