Cuetlaxtlan (Mdz49r)

Cuetlaxtlan (Mdz49r)
Simplex Glyph

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description: 

This simplex glyph standing for the place name Cuetlaxtlan consists of a tied bundle of tanned leather strips in the shape of a bow. The leather (cuetlaxtli) is dyed red. It is horizontal here. The -tlan (locative suffix) is not represented visually.

Description, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis: 

From attestations of the term cuetlaxtli in our online Nahuatl Dictionary, we learn that this word could refer to leather wine skins, to leather wrapped around people's head (with the added tzon- element), wrapped around drums, and it can refer to skin from a deceased person that was worn by other people. There were probably many uses for leather. The example here, dyed red, appears to be in the form of strips, which could be used to tie or wrap things. See the element in this collection for tzontli, below (right).

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: 
locative (not visual)
noun(s)
Cultural Content & Iconography: 
Leather, hides
Colors: 
red
Shapes and Perspectives: 
horizontal
tied, bound, or bundled
Glyph or Iconographic Image: 
Relevant Nahuatl Dictionary Word(s): 

-tlan (locative suffix), place, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/tlan

Karttunen’s Interpretation: 

"Leather Place" [Frances Karttunen, unpublished manuscript, used here with her permission.]

Additional Scholars' Interpretations: 

"Where The Dressed Leather Knots Abound" (Berdan and Anwalt, 1992, vol. 1, p. )

Image Source: 

Codex Mendoza, folio 49 recto, https://digital.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/objects/2fea788e-2aa2-4f08-b6d9-648c00..., image 108 of 188.

Image Source, Rights: 

Original manuscript is held by the Bodleian Libraries, University of Oxford, MS. Arch. Selden. A. 1; used here with the UK Creative Commons, “Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 License” (CC-BY-NC-SA 3.0)