Cuauhxomolco (TK206v)

Cuauhxomolco (TK206v)
Compound Hieroglyph

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description:

This painted compound Nahuatl hieroglyph represents the place name Cuauhxomolco (“At the Corner of the Woods”). The compound contains three elements, and the reading is from left to right. On the left is a tree (cuahuitl) with a brown trunk and rounded green foliage. A line connects this to the next element, which is a xoctli (pottery vessel) with a rounded handle at the top. This sign provides the -xo- phonetic syllable that is the beginning of the word for corner (xomolli). The -mol- part of the name is not shown visually. The locative suffix (-co) is supplied phonetically by the third element, on the right, the pottery jug or pot (comitl). The tree is the only semantic contributor to this place name; the other elements are phonetic.

Description, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis:

Cuauhxomolco is a place name that also appears in the Codex Mendoza (see below). In one of those examples, a tree has a corner to it. In the other, a piece of wood has a corner. The use of a xoctli as a phonetic syllable (-xo-) has been rare in this collection (as of May 2026), but it seems to be prominent in the Tetzcoco region, so more examples may be coming in.

Side Note: The folio numbers are not always clear in the copy published online by the British Museum. Marc Thouvenot gives this page the number K04_B in his TLACHIA digital collection, https://tlachia.iib.unam.mx/tepetlaoztoc/K04_B.

Added Analysis, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Gloss or Text Image:

Gloss/Text Diplomatic Transcription:

quavhsomolco

Gloss/Text Normalization:

Cuauhxomolco

Gloss/Text Analysis, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Source Manuscript:

Tepetlaoztoc, Codex (aka Kingsborough) (TK)

Date of Manuscript:

c. 1556

Creator's Location (and place coverage):

Tepetlaoztoc, East of Lake Tetzcoco

Semantic Categories:

phonetic dimensions

place name

Syntax:

line connecting elements

noun(s)

syllable: xo or xoc (from xoctli, jug)

syllables/two: chicon or chicom (from comitl, jug)

Writing Features:

compound of phonogram(s) & logogram(s)

Cultural Content & Iconography:

Names (places)

Plants, Flora

Pottery, Earthenware

Cultural Content, Credit:

Jeff Haskett-Wood

Colors:

brown

Shapes and Perspectives:

frontal view

Parts (compounds or simplex + notation):

Reading Order (Compounds or Simplex + Notation):

left to right

Keywords:

monte, arboleda, árbol, árboles, rincones, esquina, esquinas, barro, olla, ollas, nombres de lugares, topónimo, topónimos, fonetismo

Glyph or Iconographic Image:

Relevant Nahuatl Dictionary Word(s):

cuahu(itl), tree or wood, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/cuahuitl
xoc(tli), pottery pot, container, vessel, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/xoctli
com(itl), pottery jug or pot, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/comitl
xomol(li), corner, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/xomolli

Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation:

En Rincón del Bosque

Spanish Translation, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Image Source:

The Codex Kingsborough, also known as the Códice de Tepetlaoztoc, and the Memorial de los indios de Tepetlaoztoc, is not on display. It was transferred from the British Library and is now held by the British Museum. It is shared on line at: https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/E_Am2006-Drg-13964

Image Source, Rights:

©The Trustees of the British Museum. Shared under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0) license. Please also cite the <em>Visual Lexicon of Aztec Hieroglyphsem>, ed. Stephanie Wood (Eugene, Ore.: Wired Humanities Projects, 2020-present) and this URL.

Orthography:

"q" for c

"s" for x

"v" for u, uh, or hu

Historical Contextualizing Image: