Itzmiquilpan (Osu35v)

Itzmiquilpan (Osu35v)
Compound Hieroglyph

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description: 

This painted compound Nahuatl hieroglyph represents the place name Itzmiquilpan ("On the Purslane"). A hill or mountain (tepetl) supports the plant called itzmitl, which is an herb of the quilitl type. It is called purslane in English and verdolaga in Mexican Spanish. The plant here has three floppy branches with small green leaves. It is draped over the top half of the mountain. The mountain may be a generic visual locative, as it does not play a role in the name of the town, unless it stands for the -pan locative suffix. The mountain could also be a suggestion that this place is an altepetl (socio-political unit, ethnic state) because it is a hill or mountain with the place for a natural spring (atl) clearly marked at the base in the form of horizontal red and yellow stripes. In this digital collection there are a few tepetl glyphs that actually show water emerging from this site that resembles a mouth with lips.

Description, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis: 

The other example of a hieroglyph for Itzmilquilpan in this collection is completely different in that it includes phonetic indicators that this one does not have.

Added Analysis, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Gloss or Text Image: 
Gloss/Text Diplomatic Transcription: 

ytzmiquilpan.

Gloss/Text Normalization: 

Itzmiquilpan

Gloss/Text Analysis, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Source Manuscript: 
Osuna, Codex (Osu)
Date of Manuscript: 

1551–1565

Creator's Location (and place coverage): 

Mexico City

Semantic Categories: 
place name
Syntax: 
noun(s)
Writing Features: 
compound fully logographic
Cultural Content & Iconography: 
Landscape Features
Names (places)
Plants, Flora
Cultural Content, Credit: 

Jeff Haskett-Wood

Colors: 
green (light)
red
yellow or golden
Shapes and Perspectives: 
bell-shaped (upright)
frontal view
spiraling, swirling, coiling, curling
Parts (compounds or simplex + notation): 
2
Reading Order (Compounds or Simplex + Notation): 
downward
Keywords: 

verdolaga, purslane, herbs, cerro, cerros, montaña, montañas, place names, nombres de lugares, topónimo, topónimos

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

itzmi(tl), purslane, an herb, a type of quilitl, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/itzmitl
quil(itl), edible herbs and vegetables, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/quilitl
-pan (locative suffix), in or on, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/pan

Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation: 

posiblemente, "En la Verdolaga"

Spanish Translation, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Image Source: 

Library of Congress Online Catalog and the World Digital Library, Osuna Codex, or Painting of the Governor, Mayors, and Rulers of Mexico, https://www.loc.gov/resource/gdcwdl.wdl_07324/. The original is located in the Biblioteca Nacional de España.

Image Source, Rights: 

"The Library of Congress is unaware of any copyright or other restrictions in the World Digital Library Collection. Absent any such restrictions, these materials are free to use and reuse." But please cite the Biblioteca Nacional de España and this Visual Lexicon of Aztec Hieroglyphs if you use any of these images here or refer to the content on this page, providing the URL

Orthography: 
"y" for i
intrusive period
Historical Contextualizing Image: 
See Also: 

Itzmiquilpan (Mdz27r)