etl (Mdz52r)

This bean has a phonetic function, to provide the "e" sound for the Miquetlan version of Mictlan. Its meaning remains unclear in the compound glyph, so it could be a logogram with a semantic function. This bean is obviously a black bean, but the Nahuas have many types of beans, as the expression in our dictionary, "nepapan etl" (varieties of beans or legumes) conveys, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/nepapan-etl. Beans were (and still are) a staple in the Nahua diet, an excellent source of protein. They were also an item paid in tributes-in-kind in the sixteenth century, as the Codex Mendoza shows well. See, for example, the "troxes de frisoles y de chian," on folio 44 recto.