Eyi Tecpatl (Mdz2r)

Eyi Tecpatl (Mdz2r)
Simplex Glyph
Notation

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description:

This simplex glyph and notation for a solar year (xihuitl) date, Three Flint Knife (Eyi Tecpatl), has a notation of three (eyi) ones above the simplex glyph of a flint knife (tecpatl). The three ones are simple circles; they do not have dots or smaller concentric circles inside them the way some ones do. The flint is upright with a diagonal line running through it. The entire date is enclosed in a black-line box, which is a date indicator. The entire contents of the box are painted turquoise blue.

Description, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis:

Year and turquoise are homophones, xihuitl. The color in this case might therefore be interpreted as a phonetic indicator that this is a year sign.

In most cases where the flint knife appears outside of a date compound, the diagonal line divides the knife into two colors. In these cases (see below), the upper part of the knife is red, and the lower part is white. The red may symbolize blood.

Added Analysis, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Source Manuscript:

Mendoza/Mendocino, Codex (Mdz)

Date of Manuscript:

c. 1541, or by 1553 at the latest

Creator's Location (and place coverage):

Mexico City

Semantic Categories:

calendrics

year name

homophony, rebus

numbers

phonetic dimensions

Syntax:

noun(s)

Writing Features:

simplex or element as logogram

Cultural Content & Iconography:

Numbers, Math

Technology (all types), plus Tools

Time, Calendar, Frequency

Weapons, Shields, Armor

Cultural Content, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Colors:

blue (turquoise)

Shapes and Perspectives:

boxed in

diagonal or angled

leaf, marquise, pointed oval

pointed (see also spiky)

vertical, upright

Parts (of compounds or simplex + notation):

Reading Order (Compounds or Simplex + Notation):

downward

Keywords:

numbers, números, pedernales, xiuhpohualli, año, turquesa, xihuitl

Glyph or Iconographic Image:

Relevant Nahuatl Dictionary Word(s):

eyi, three, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/eyi
tecpatl, flint knife, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/tecpatl

Image Source:

Codex Mendoza, folio 02 recto, https://digital.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/objects/2fea788e-2aa2-4f08-b6d9-648c00..., image 14 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).