Cozcacuauhtepec (CQ)

Cozcacuauhtepec (CQ)
Compound Glyph

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description:

This compound glyph for the place name Cozcacuauhtepetonco ("On Little Vulture Hill") has two main elements. One is the head (shown in profile, looking to the viewer's right) of a vulture (cozcacuauhtli). The feathers on the back of its head are wispy, pointing upward somewhat. Its eye is open, as is its beak. It is has been drawn with a black line and it appears not to have been painted. The hill or mountain (tepetl) behind it is a greenish-brown, somewhat mottled. the base of the mountain is indefinite and merges with other, surrounding mountains.

Description, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis:

The cozcacuauhtli has a hieroglyphic shape, although it does not feature the phonetic indicator that distinguishes it from an eagle, the necklace (cozcatl), seen in examples provided below. The cozcacuauhtli is a day sign in the Mesoamerican calendar, the tonalpohualli. The mountain here is straying away from hieroglyphic writing somewhat, and leaning toward landscape painting. The diminutive (-ton-) is not shown visually, nor is the locative suffix (-co), but the locative may be represented semantically by the landscape features of the compound.

Added Analysis, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Gloss Image:

Gloss Diplomatic Transcription:

cozcaquauhte
pectongo

Gloss Normalization:

Cozcacuauhtepetonco

Gloss Analysis, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Source Manuscript:

Quetzalecatzin, Codex (CQ)

Date of Manuscript:

covers ruling men and women of Tecamachalco through 1593

Creator's Location (and place coverage):

southern Puebla state

Semantic Categories:

place name

Syntax:

locative (not visual, but represented semantically)

noun(s)

Writing Features:

compound fully logographic

Cultural Content & Iconography:

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

Landscape Features

Mouth/Beak Open

Names (places)

Socio-Political Units, Cities, Towns, Neighborhoods

Cultural Content, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Colors:

green (light)

red

white/neutral

Shapes and Perspectives:

bell-shaped (upright)

facing right

profile view

Parts (compounds or simplex + notation):

Reading Order (Compounds or Simplex + Notation):

downward

front to back

Other Cultural Influences:

Mixtec

Keywords:

place, lugar, name, nombre, feathers, plumas

Glyph or Iconographic Image:

Relevant Nahuatl Dictionary Word(s):

cozcacuauh(tli), vulture, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/cozcacuauhtli
cozca(tl), necklace, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/cozcatl
cuauh(tli), eagle, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/cuauhtli
tepe(tl), https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/tepetl
-c (locative suffix), https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/c

Additional Scholars' Interpretations:

Cozcaquauhtli Tepetonco “On the Little Hill of the King Vultures.” Matthew T. McDavitt, “Placenames in the Codex Quetzalecatzin,” unpublished essay shared 2-21-2018.

Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation:

En el Cerro del Buitre

Spanish Translation, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Image Source:

The Codex Quetzalecatzin, aka Mapa de Ecatepec-Huitziltepec, Codex Ehecatepec-Huitziltepec, or Charles Ratton Codex. Library of Congress. https://www.loc.gov/item/2017590521/

Image Source, Rights:

The Library of Congress, current custodian of this pictorial Mexican manuscript, hosts a digital version online. It is not copyright protected.

Historical Contextualizing Image: