cuahuitl (Mdz32r)

cuahuitl (Mdz32r)
Element from a Compound

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description: 

This element for trees (cuahuitl) has been carved from the compound sign for the place name, Cuauhpanoayan. It consists of two tree trunks lying horizontally, each one with two branches with two-tone greenery, terracotta-colored bark, and diagonal stripes across the trunks.

Description, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis: 

The shape and direction of these trees are affected by the meaning of the compound glyph from which they were carved, which pointed to a wooden surface upon which people could cross a river or the like. 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

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

Syntax: 
noun(s)
Writing Features: 
simplex or element as logogram
Cultural Content & Iconography: 
Plants, Flora
Wood, wooden things
Colors: 
black
green (dark)
green (light)
orange/terracotta
Shapes and Perspectives: 
horizontal
striped
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

Additional Scholars' Interpretations: 

tree

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: 

Cuauhpanoayan (Mdz32r)