ichtecqui (Mdz71r)

ichtecqui (Mdz71r)
Compound Glyph

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description: 

This black-line drawing of the simplex glyph for the noun ichtecqui, thief, actually depicts a cutting action (tequi, the verb meaning to cut) that involves a curved, black flint blade, a phonetic indicator. The blade is cutting a skein of maguey fiber (ichtli), according to Gordon Whittaker (Deciphering Aztec Hieroglyphs, 2012, fig. 2.19). The fiber (ich-) provides a phonetic indicator. A pair of front teeth are faintly visible at the top of the skein of fiber, as though the artist/writer was originally going to create a glyph that would involve the locative suffix -tlan (from tlantli, teeth).

Description, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis: 

The cutting action provides the phonetic value tequi, which is a clue to the noun ichtecqui, ladrón or thief. In another glyph for ichtecqui, we see a person opening a box as though about to steal something. The visuals for these glyphs could equally stand for the verb, ichtequi, to steal.

Added Analysis, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Gloss Image: 
Gloss Diplomatic Transcription: 

ladron

Gloss Normalization: 

ladrón (thief, in English)

Gloss 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: 
phonetic dimensions
Syntax: 
noun(s)
verb
Writing Features: 
compound fully phonographic
Cultural Content & Iconography: 
Anatomy, human body parts
Hair (human or animal)
Technology (all types), plus Tools
Cultural Content, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Colors: 
black
black & white drawing (no color)
Parts (compounds or simplex + notation): 
2
Reading Order (Compounds or Simplex + Notation): 
downward
Glyph or Iconographic Image: 
Relevant Nahuatl Dictionary Word(s): 

ichtecqui, thief, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/ichtecqui
ichtequi, to steal, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/ichtequi
tequi, to cut, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/tequi
ich(tli)>, maguey fiber, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/ichtli

Image Source: 

Codex Mendoza, folio 71 recto, https://digital.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/objects/2fea788e-2aa2-4f08-b6d9-648c00..., image 152 of 188.

Image Source, Rights: 

Original manuscript is held by the Bodleian Libraries, University of Oxford, MS. Arch. Selden. A. 1; used here with the UK Creative Commons, “Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 License” (CC-BY-NC-SA 3.0)

See Also: 

ichtecqui (Mdz70r)