Cocollan (Mdz37r)
This simplex glyph for the place name Cocollan doubles as the glyph for cocolli (quarrel, dispute, anger). It is a dark gray cloud with swirling (see coltic, which is a phonetic complement here) black lines inside the cloud and a scalloped edge on the outer circle. The locative suffix (-tlan, which changes to -lan before a stem ending in l) is not shown visually.
Stephanie Wood
We count this glyph as relating to emotions, which are a challenge to express graphically, regardless of the culture. The swirling dark cloud could suggest dust rising during a skirmish or a cluster of speech scrolls suggesting a heated argument. There are not many glyphs that convey emotion. Other examples are the glyphs for pleasure (ahuiliztli) and the glyph showing a widow or abandoned woman (cahualli) in tears. (See below, right.)
Beyond that, a range of glyphs (Cocol, Cocoliloc) suggest quarrels or someone being hated.
Stephanie Wood
cocolan. puo
Cocollan, pueblo
Stephanie Wood
c. 1541, but by 1553 at the latest
Stephanie Wood
commotion, arguments, discutir, la pelea, la discusión, la ira, enojar
cocol(li), quarrel, dispute, or anger, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/cocolli
coltic, curved, bent, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/coltic
-tlan (locative suffix), https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/tlan
"Place of Disagreement" or "Place of Random Twists and Turns" [Frances Karttunen, unpublished manuscript, used here with her permission.]
"Place of Many Disputes"
Lugar de Peleas
Stephanie Wood
Codex Mendoza, folio 37 recto, https://digital.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/objects/2fea788e-2aa2-4f08-b6d9-648c00..., image 84 of 188.
Original manuscript is held by the Bodleian Libraries, University of Oxford, MS. Arch. Selden. A. 1; used here with the UK Creative Commons, “Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 License” (CC-BY-NC-SA 3.0)
