Coyohuacan (Mdz5v)

Coyohuacan (Mdz5v)
Compound Glyph

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description:

This compound glyph for the place name Coyohuacan (or Coyoacán, as spelled and accented in contemporary Mexican Spanish) includes two principal features. One is a coyote (coyotl), and the other is a hole [coyoctli in the animal's body. The coyote is sitting on its haunches, with its front legs extended. It is in profile, facing to the viewer's left. 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 right.

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. 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:

coyuacan. pu^o

Gloss Normalization:

Coyohuacan, pueblo (Coyoacán, today)

Gloss Analysis, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Source Manuscript:

Mendoza/Mendocino, Codex (Mdz)

Date of Manuscript:

c. 1541, or by 1553 at the latest

Creator's Location (and place coverage):

Mexico City

Semantic Categories:

graphic syllepsis

place name

Syntax:

adjective

locative (not visual)

noun(s)

Cultural Content & Iconography:

Animals, incl. Birds, Bugs, Insects, Reptiles, etc.

Names (places)

Socio-Political Units, Cities, Towns, Neighborhoods

Teeth Protruding/Noticeable

Tongue Protruding/Noticeable

Cultural Content, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Colors:

orange/terracotta

white/neutral

Shapes and Perspectives:

circle(s) (small, often concentric)

dotted, granular, textured

facing left

profile view

Reading Order (Compounds or Simplex + Notation):

inherent/internal/merged

Keywords:

coyotes, holes, huecos

Glyph or Iconographic Image:

Relevant Nahuatl Dictionary Word(s):

coyo(tl), coyote, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/coyotl
coyoc(tli), hole, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/coyoctli
-can (locative suffix), where, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/can-2

Karttunen’s Interpretation:

"Place Where People Have Coyotes" (likening this term to the one for Michhuacan, where people have fish) [Frances Karttunen, unpublished manuscript, used here with her permission.]

Additional Scholars' Interpretations:

"Place of the Lean Coyotes" (Berdan and Anawalt, 1992, vol. 1, p. 181; the "lean" part points to the Nahuatl adjective for lean, huacqui, in their view)

Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation:

"Donde Hay Coyotes"

Spanish Translation, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Image Source:

Codex Mendoza, folio 5 verso, https://digital.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/objects/2fea788e-2aa2-4f08-b6d9-648c00..., image 21 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).