Chimalpopoca (Mdz4v)

Chimalpopoca (Mdz4v)
Compound Glyph

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description:

This glyph for the personal name Chimalpopoca is one of two that appear on folio 4 verso. It shows a turquoise-blue rimmed, yellow shield with seven small white circular shapes (down balls), ihuiteteyo) on the yellow background of the shield. Coming out of the top of the shield are four puffs of gray or purple smoke with an orange or terracotta lining.

Description, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis:

Shields and smoke have war associations. Down feather balls are associated with death. The ihuiteteyo shield design has an association with Tenochtitlan. Chimalpopoca was the third emperor of the Aztec empire that was based at Tenochtitlan. The historical context for this name glyph shows that Chimalpopoca's eyes are closed, an indicator that he is deceased. This is also confirmed by the gloss, "difunto" (which is deceased in Spanish). The context also shows him sitting on a woven stool, wearing a tilmatli (cape), and wearing a native crown (xiuhhuitzolli)--all indicators of his status and authority as a ruler.

Another example of a compound glyph for the name Chimalpopoca can be seen below. It includes arrows and has s different color scheme. It is from the Codex Telleriano-Rememsis.

Added Analysis, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Gloss Image:

Gloss Diplomatic Transcription:

chimalpu
puca
difunto

Gloss Normalization:

Chimalpopoca, difunto (deceased)

Gloss 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

Semantic Categories:

personal name

Syntax:

noun(s)

verb

Cultural Content & Iconography:

Fire, Tobacco, Incense, Smoke

Names (personal and/or theonym)

Politics, Power, Governance

War or Conflict

Weapons, Shields, Armor

Cultural Content, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Colors:

Shapes and Perspectives:

circle, circular or rounded

spiraling, swirling, coiling, curling

Parts (compounds or simplex + notation):

Reading Order (Compounds or Simplex + Notation):

upward

Keywords:

shields, escudos, rodelas, feathers, plumas

Glyph or Iconographic Image:

Relevant Nahuatl Dictionary Word(s):

chimal(li), a shield, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/chimalli
popoca, for something to smoke, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/popoca
ihuiteteyo, down ball shield design, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/ihuiteteyo

Additional Scholars' Interpretations:

Smoking Shield

Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation:

Rodela Humeante

Spanish Translation, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Image Source:

Codex Mendoza, folio 4 verso, https://digital.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/objects/2fea788e-2aa2-4f08-b6d9-648c00..., image 19 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).

Historical Contextualizing Image: