Cuetzpaltepetonco (CQ)

Cuetzpaltepetonco (CQ)
Compound Hieroglyph

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description:

This compound glyph for the place name Cuetzpaltepetonco ("On Little Lizard Hill") has three notable elements. One is a lizard (cuetzpalin) painted turquoise blue-green, shown in profile, facing to the viewer's left. Below the lizard there is a short, three-tiered pyramid (possibly a tetelli or a tzacualli). This construction does not enter into the place name in a phonetic way, so it is probably a semantic indicator. At the bottom of the compound is a green, bell-shaped hill or mountain (tepetl). There is a short, horizontal bar at the base of the hill or mountain. The diminutive (-ton-) and the locative (-co) are not shown visually, but perhaps the landscape provides a semantic locative.

Description, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis:

The cuetzpalin is a calendrical day sign as well as an animal that appears in the landscape. It may be that the hill has a stepped pyramid on top.

Added Analysis, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Gloss or Text Image:

Gloss/Text Diplomatic Transcription:

cuetzpaltepetōco

Gloss/Text Normalization:

Cuetzpaltepetonco

Gloss/Text Analysis, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Source Manuscript:

Quetzalecatzin, Codex (CQ)

Date of Manuscript:

covers ruling men and women of Tecamachalco through 1593

Creator's Location (and place coverage):

southern Puebla state

Semantic Categories:

calendrics

day name

place name

Syntax:

locative (not visual, but represented semantically)

noun(s)

Cultural Content & Iconography:

Animals: Lizards/Salamanders/Axolotl

Architecture, Construction, Buildings

Landscape Features

Names (places)

Socio-Political Units, Cities, Towns, Neighborhoods

Time, Calendar, Frequency

Cultural Content, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Colors:

Shapes and Perspectives:

bell-shaped (upright)

Parts (compounds or simplex + notation):

Reading Order (Compounds or Simplex + Notation):

downward

Other Cultural Influences:

Ñuu Savi (Mixtec)

Keywords:

places, lugares, lizards, lagartos, iguanas, place names, topónimos, nombres de lugares

Glyph or Iconographic Image:

Relevant Nahuatl Dictionary Word(s):

cuetzpal(in), lizard, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/cuetzpalin
tepe(tl), hill/mountain, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/tepetl
-ton- (diminutive), https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/ton
-co (locative suffix), https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/co

Additional Scholars' Interpretations:

P[ueblo] Cuetzpaltepetoco “Little Hill of the Lizard.” Matthew T. McDavitt, “Placenames in the Codex Quetzalecatzin,” unpublished essay shared 2-21-2018.

Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation:

el lagarto en la cima del cerro

Spanish Translation, Credit:

Ofelia Cruz Morales

Image Source:

The Codex Quetzalecatzin, aka Mapa de Ecatepec-Huitziltepec, Codex Ehecatepec-Huitziltepec, or Charles Ratton Codex. Library of Congress. https://www.loc.gov/item/2017590521/

Image Source, Rights:

The Library of Congress, current custodian of this pictorial Mexican manuscript, hosts a digital version online. It is not copyright protected.

Historical Contextualizing Image: