epatl (Mdz22r)

epatl (Mdz22r)
Element from a Compound

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description: 

This element has been carved from the compound glyph for the place name, Epazoyocan. The animal shown [the epatl) is meant to be a skunk. It has a purplish-gray color, but with white stripes on the head, three black stripes on the body, and a long bushy tail. It faces to our right, and crouches somewhat. Its ears stand up, its eye is open, and the mouth is slightly open, showing some white teeth.

Description, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis: 

The direction of the stripes on this representation of the epatl run the opposite way that a skunk's stripes normally run, which is the length of the body. As shown in our online dictionary (cited elsewhere in this record), the when an epatl got into someone's house or gave birth there, it was an omen that one of the people in the house would die. It may be that not much attention was given to the epatl because it was a phonetic indicator, meant to tip off the reader to the fact that the herbs shown in the compound glyph were epazotl. This herb has a strong smell, which may be more than a coincidence.

Added Analysis, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

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: 
noun(s)
Cultural Content & Iconography: 
Animals, incl. Birds, Bugs, Insects, Reptiles, etc.
Mouth/Beak Open
Sensory Perception
Teeth Protruding/Noticeable
Cultural Content, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Shapes and Perspectives: 
striped
Glyph or Iconographic Image: 
Relevant Nahuatl Dictionary Word(s): 

epa(tl), skunk, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/epatl

Additional Scholars' Interpretations: 

skunk

Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation: 

el zorrillo

Spanish Translation, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Image Source: 

Codex Mendoza, folio 22 recto, https://digital.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/objects/2fea788e-2aa2-4f08-b6d9-648c00..., image 54 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).

See Also: 

Epazoyocan (Mdz22r)