choloa (Mdz42r)
This simplex glyph stands for choloa, to run, jump, or flee, also doubles for the ethnic label "Chololtecatl" (or, in the plural, Chololteca), and the place name Cholollan. It shows a deer's foot, with a brown textured coat and three turquoise-colored hooves. There is a bit of white on the underside of the foot, which may intend a three-dimensionality.
Stephanie Wood
The analysis of "choloa" is derived from the gloss "cholulteca," which refers to the people of Cholula (Cholollan). Regarding the possible reading of this verb (choloa) for to flee or to jump, see the glyph (below, right) for Atl Choloayan (Water's Jumping Off Place?). And see the dissertation of Verónica Anne Gutiérrez, "Converting a Sacred City: Franciscan Re-Imagining of Sixteenth-Century San Pedro Cholula" (UCLA, 2012), p. 46, for the interpretation that this animal paw suggests the verb to flee or "flight." She explains how this connects to the history of the city of Cholula and the "'flight' from Tollan to Cholollan in the Classic Period." The turquoise color on the hoof may suggest preciosity. We have also seen deer antlers in this color (below, right). The other example of choloa that we show below may give a better idea of jump, flee, or run, given that the leg is bent.
Stephanie Wood
cholulteca
Cholulteca, Chololteca
Stephanie Wood
c. 1541, or by 1553 at the latest
Stephanie Wood
deer, feet, hooves, venados, patas, pezuñas, legs, piernas
choloa, to flee or jump, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/choloa
CHOLO(A)
huir o brincar
Stephanie Wood
Codex Mendoza, folio 42 recto, https://digital.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/objects/2fea788e-2aa2-4f08-b6d9-648c00..., image 94 of 188.
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).
