Cuauhtlan (Mdz24v)

Cuauhtlan (Mdz24v)
Simplex Glyph

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description: 

This simplex glyph for the place name Cuauhtlan shows simple an eagle's head in profile, looking to the viewer's right. The word for eagle is cuauhtli, and the stem is -cuauh. The locative suffix (-tlan) is not shown here visually. The eagle's head has brown feathers in two tones of brown, dark and lighter, and some grayish feathers right near its face. Its eye is yellow, as is its beak, with the exception of the tips, which are black. Its beak is open, showing a red tongue.

Description, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis: 

There is another Cuauhtlan glyph, a compound glyph, in the Codex Mendoza on folio 13 verso. That one has an eagle's head and the two front teeth to stand for the phonetic -tlan suffix. There is also another Cuauhtlan glypn that is simply a standing eagle.
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, and could serve as a 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). Whereas, the place name Cuauhtitlan uses the -titlan postposition on the stem that once had the -tl absolutive (cuahuitl, tree). But in the case of Mictlan Cuauhtlan (Mdz49r), the ligature is not used, so it must not be a requirement.

Added Analysis, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Gloss Image: 
Gloss Diplomatic Transcription: 

quauhtlan.puo

Gloss Normalization: 

Cuauhtlan, pueblo

Gloss Analysis, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Source Manuscript: 
Date of Manuscript: 

c. 1541, but by 1553 at the latest

Creator's Location (and place coverage): 

Mexico City

Semantic Categories: 
Keywords: 

Quauhtlan, Quauhtla, Cuauhtla, feathers, plumas

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

cuauh(tli), eagle, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/cuauhtli
-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 24 verso, https://digital.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/objects/2fea788e-2aa2-4f08-b6d9-648c00..., image 59 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).