Itzcoatzin (Mdz19r)

Itzcoatzin (Mdz19r)
Compound Glyph

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description: 

This compound glyph for the personal name Itzcoatl (or Itzcoatzin, in the reverential) includes two prominent elements. One is a yellow serpent (coatl) with an unusual shape, curving at the bottom but with a rectangular coil at the top. The serpent's head appears where these two sections meet. It is shown in profile, looking to the viewer's right. Its eye is open, as is its mouth, with red gums and white teeth visible. It has a small curve for a nose. The bending yellow serpent body (or other shape) has twelve obsidian points (itztli), fairly evenly spaced on its upper edge.

Description, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Gloss Image: 
Gloss Diplomatic Transcription: 

yzcoaçi

Gloss Normalization: 

Itzcoatzin (or Itzcoatl)

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

Semantic Categories: 
personal name
Syntax: 
noun(s)
Cultural Content & Iconography: 
Animals, incl. Birds, Bugs, Insects, Reptiles, etc.
Mouth/Beak Open
Names (personal and/or theonym)
Stones, Rocks, Lapidary, Masonry
Teeth Protruding/Noticeable
Tongue Protruding/Noticeable
Weapons, Shields, Armor
Cultural Content, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Colors: 
black
red
white/neutral
yellow or golden
Shapes and Perspectives: 
rectangular
pointed (see also spiky)
curving, curvy, curved
bifurcated
profile view
facing right
Parts (compounds or simplex + notation): 
2
Number of Parts, Other / Comment: 

There are really many obsidian points, but we are counting them as one (a group).

Reading Order (Compounds or Simplex + Notation): 
inherent/internal/merged
Keywords: 

rulers, gobernantes, Mexica, obsidiana, piedras, navajas, cuchillos, serpientes, culebras, víboras, serpents, snakes, knives, flints, points, puntas, nombres de hombres, cohuatl

Glyph or Iconographic Image: 
Relevant Nahuatl Dictionary Word(s): 

itz(tli), obsidian blade, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/itztli
coa(tl), serpent, snake, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/coatl

Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation: 

Serpiente de Obsidiana, o Navaja-Culebra

Spanish Translation, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Image Source: 

Codex Mendoza, folio 19 recto, https://digital.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/objects/2fea788e-2aa2-4f08-b6d9-648c00..., image 48 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)

Historical Contextualizing Image: 
See Also: 

Itzcoatzin (Mdz5v)