Itztepec (Mdz23r)
This compound glyph for the place name Itztepec comprises an obsidian blade (itztli)] on top of a hill or mountain (tepetl). In one other example of the itztli blade on the hill, it is a leaf shape (oval with pointed ends), black in the middle and white along the edges. But here it is a black curved blade, point to the right. The locative suffix (-c) (as given in the gloss) is not shown visually, but it combines with -tepe- to form -tepec, a visual locative suffix meaning "on the hill" or "on the mountain."
As attested in our Online Nahuatl Dictionary, obsidian blades were pervasive in Aztec culture and had myriad uses, as knives, razors, lancets, arrowheads, and surgical tools. There was also a deity associated with the name Itztli.
Stephanie Wood
yztepec. puo
Itztepec, pueblo
Stephanie Wood
c. 1541, or by 1553 at the latest
Stephanie Wood
knives, blades, flint, mountains, hills
![](https://aztecglyphs.wired-humanities.org/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/Itztepec23r.jpeg?itok=yKSuruio)
itz(tli), obsidian blade or knife, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/itztli
tepe(tl), hill or mountain, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/tepetl
-c (locative suffix), https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/c
-tepec, on the hill or mountain, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/tepec
Codex Mendoza, folio 23 recto, https://digital.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/objects/2fea788e-2aa2-4f08-b6d9-648c00..., image 56 of 188.
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).