cuahuitl (Mdz32r)

cuahuitl (Mdz32r)
Element from a Compound

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description: 

This glyphic element for cuahuitl has been carved from the compound sign for the place name, Chichiccuauhtla. It is a classic representation of a tree, with a leader and two branches, all with two-toned green foliage, terracotta-colored bark, and two black stripes across the trunk, one thin and one thick.

Description, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis: 

The black stripes (tlilcuahuitl) are phonetic indicators that this sign is a tree (cuahuitl), something I discovered independently, but which has also been pointed out by Brígida von Mentz ("De árboles, raíces, y locativos en la iconografía del México antiguo," Tlalocan 15, 2008, 216–219).

Added Analysis, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

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
Syntax: 
noun(s)
Writing Features: 
simplex or element as logogram
Cultural Content & Iconography: 
Plants, Flora
Cultural Content, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Colors: 
black
green (dark)
green (light)
orange/terracotta
Shapes and Perspectives: 
striped
tripartite
vertical, upright
Keywords: 

trees, árboles

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

cuahui(tl), tree(s), https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/cuahuitl-1
tlilcuahui(tl), black stripe(s), https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/tlilcuahuitl

Image Source: 

Codex Mendoza, folio 32 recto, https://digital.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/objects/2fea788e-2aa2-4f08-b6d9-648c00..., image 74 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: 

Chichiccuauhtla (Mdz32r)

Cuahuitl (MH631v)

Cuahuitl (MH513r)