epatl (Mdz42r)

epatl (Mdz42r)
Element from a Compound

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description: 

This element for a skunk (epatl) has been carved from the compound sign for the place name, Epatlan. It shows the animal in profile, looking to the viewer's right. The animal is shown in profile, facing to the viewer's right. It is crouching. Its coat is primarily gray-purple. Two black stripes run at an angle across the back, and the coat is rather spiky along the back and tail. The tail is long and full. The animal's front teeth are showing, and there is something of a white stripe across its eyes, like a mask.

Description, 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.
Colors: 
black
gray
purple (light)/lavender
white/neutral
Shapes and Perspectives: 
spiky
striped
Glyph or Iconographic Image: 
Relevant Nahuatl Dictionary Word(s): 

https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/epatl

Additional Scholars' Interpretations: 

skunk

Image Source: 

Codex Mendoza, folio 42 recto, https://digital.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/objects/2fea788e-2aa2-4f08-b6d9-648c00..., image 94 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: 

Epatlan (Mdz42r)