Cuauhtlan (Mdz13v)

Cuauhtlan (Mdz13v)
Compound Glyph

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description:

This compound glyph representing the place name Cuauhtlan contains two principal elements. One is the eagle's (cuauhtli) head, in profile, looking to the viewer's left, and the other element is comprised of two front teeth (tlantli), which stand for the phonetic element -tlan (a locative suffix). The teeth are white and have red gums above them. The eagle's head has dark brown feathers fading to white near the eye and beak. The eye is yellow, as is the beak (with the exception of black on the tip of the upper part of the beak and more black on the bottom part.

Description, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis:

We have two other representations of Cuauhtlan from the Codex Mendoza in this database, too. One is just an eagle head and the other is an entire eagle's body, upright, with the wings raised.
The differences of scholarly interpretation for this glyph are not great. Unlike Berdan and Anawalt, Karttunen does not see the locative suffix -tlan (which is supported by the teeth) as meaning a place of abundance of a certain thing. Karttunen preserves that reading for the locative suffix -tla. The gloss definitely supports the paleography of the -tlan suffix. That said, there are intrusive n's, and there is a noun "cuauhtla" (also spelled "cuauhtlah") which means woods, forest, wilderness, which would make a perfectly good place name.
It is worth noting that this place name uses the -tlan postposition on the stem that once had the -tli absolutive (cuauhtli, eagle). Whereas, the place name Cuauhtitlan uses the -titlan postposition on the stem that once had the -tl absolutive (cuahuitl, tree).

Added Analysis, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Gloss Image:

Gloss Diplomatic Transcription:

quauhtlan. pu^o

Gloss Normalization:

Cuauhtlan, pueblo

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:

place name

Syntax:

locative (visual not silent)

noun(s)

Writing Features:

compound of phonogram(s) & logogram(s)

Cultural Content & Iconography:

Anatomy, human body parts

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

Feathers

Names (places)

Cultural Content, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Colors:

Reading Order (Compounds or Simplex + Notation):

downward

Keywords:

teeth, dientes, eagles, águilas, Quauhtla, Quauhtlan

Glyph or Iconographic Image:

Relevant Nahuatl Dictionary Word(s):

cuauh(tli), eagle, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/cuauhtli
tlan(tli), tooth/teeth, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/tlantli
-tlan (locative suffix), by, near, among, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/tlan
cuauhtla, woods wilderness, forest, mountain, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/cuauhtla

Karttunen’s Interpretation:

"Eagle Place" [Frances Karttunen, unpublished manuscript, used here with her permission.]

Additional Scholars' Interpretations:

"Where There Are Many Eagles" (Berdan and Anawalt, 1992, vol. 1, 202)

Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation:

"Lugar del Águila" o "Lugar de Águilas"

Spanish Translation, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Image Source:

Codex Mendoza, folio 13 verso, https://digital.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/objects/2fea788e-2aa2-4f08-b6d9-648c00..., image 37 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).