Coyohuacan (Mdz47r)

Coyohuacan (Mdz47r)
Compound Glyph

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description: 

This compound glyph for the place name Coyohuacan (Coyoacán, today) has two principal elements, a coyote (coyotl) and a hole (coyoctli) in the body of the animal. The coyote is sitting on its haunches, with its front legs extended. It is in profile, facing to the viewer's right. Its red tongue is protruding. The locative suffix (-can), which says "where," is not shown visually. The second feature is hole, a small circle, white in the middle and located on the animal's side, between the abdomen and the back. The animal has a terracotta color. Black lines show a texturing of the animal's coat, and wispy hairs stick out on the animal's back. A tail extends out a bit from the animal, on the viewer's left.

Description, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis: 

The "coyoc-" of hole provides a phonetic reinforcement for the "coyo" of coyote. This helps clarify that this is not a dog. Erik Velásquez García (2019, 77) discusses this KOYO-KOYO combination of logogram (coyote) and rebus (hole). The -hua- is a possessor suffix that attaches to nouns. This is to say that this is a place that has coyotes.

Added Analysis, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Gloss Image: 
Gloss Diplomatic Transcription: 

coyoacan. puo

Gloss Normalization: 

Coyoacan, pueblo

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: 
phonetic dimensions
place name
Syntax: 
noun(s)
Writing Features: 
compound of phonogram(s) & logogram(s)
Cultural Content & Iconography: 
Animals, incl. Birds, Bugs, Insects, Reptiles, etc.
Mouth/Beak Open
Names (places)
Socio-Political Units, Cities, Towns, Neighborhoods
Teeth Protruding/Noticeable
Cultural Content, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Colors: 
orange/terracotta
white/neutral
Shapes and Perspectives: 
circle(s) (small, often concentric)
dotted, granular, textured
facing right
profile view
spiky
Reading Order (Compounds or Simplex + Notation): 
inherent/internal/merged
Keywords: 

coyotes, holes

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

https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/coyoacan

Karttunen’s Interpretation: 

"Place Where People Have Coyotes" [Frances Karttunen, unpublished manuscript, used here with her permission.]

Additional Scholars' Interpretations: 

"Place of the Lean Coyotes" (Berdan and Anawalt, 1992, vol. 1, p. )

Image Source: 

Codex Mendoza, folio 47 recto, https://digital.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/objects/2fea788e-2aa2-4f08-b6d9-648c00..., image 104 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).

See Also: 

coyotl (Mdz13r)