cozcacuauhtli (Mdz13r)

cozcacuauhtli (Mdz13r)
Element from a Compound

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description:

This element for vulture (cozcacuauhtli) has been carved from the compound sign for the place name, Cozcacuauhtenanco. Only the vulture's head is visible. It is shown in profile, looking to our left. Its beak is slightly open. Its head is largely purple, but there is a red element above the eyes. The beak is a terracotta color. It has a red band around its neck, with what appear to be small white feathers sticking out below the red ring. It appears to have an ear or an earring.

Description, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis:

The red band with feathers at the base of the bird's head has the look of a necklace (cozcatl), which could be a phonetic indicator for a reading of cozcacuauhtli over, say, simply cuauhtli (eagle). The cozcacuauhtli was a calendrical symbol, and probably therefore, also taken as a personal name.

Added 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:

calendrics

day name

personal name

phonetic dimensions

Syntax:

noun(s)

Writing Features:

simplex or element as logogram

Cultural Content & Iconography:

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

Feathers

Jewelry, Crowns, or other Adornment

Mouth/Beak Open

Time, Calendar, Frequency

Cultural Content, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Colors:

Shapes and Perspectives:

facing left

profile view

Keywords:

feathers, plumas

Glyph or Iconographic Image:

Relevant Nahuatl Dictionary Word(s):

cozcacuauh(tli), vulture or redheaded eagle, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/cozcacuauhtli-0
cozca(tl), necklace, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/cozcatl
cuauh(tli), eagle, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/cuauhtli

Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation:

el buitre

Spanish Translation, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Image Source:

Codex Mendoza, folio 13 recto, https://digital.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/objects/2fea788e-2aa2-4f08-b6d9-648c00..., image 36 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).