Itztlan (Mdz23r)

Itztlan (Mdz23r)
Compound Glyph

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description: 

This compound glyph for the place name Itztlan has two main elements. One is an obsidian blade (itztli) and the other, below the blade, is a pair of white front teeth (tlantli) with red gums. The blade hooks at the top, with a curve bending toward the viewer's right.

Description, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis: 

The teeth have no semantic value here. They serve as a phonetic indicator for the locative suffix (-tlan).

Added Analysis, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Gloss Image: 
Gloss Diplomatic Transcription: 

yztla. puo

Gloss Normalization: 

Itztlan, pueblo

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: 
place name
Syntax: 
locative (visual but silent)
noun(s)
Cultural Content & Iconography: 
Anatomy, human body parts
Names (places)
Stones, Rocks, Lapidary, Masonry
Technology (all types), plus Tools
Cultural Content, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Colors: 
black
red
white/neutral
Shapes and Perspectives: 
facing right
Parts (of compounds or simplex + notation): 
2
Reading Order (Compounds or Simplex + Notation): 
downward
Keywords: 

obsidian blades, flint knife, flint knives, teeth, cuchillos, navajas, obsidiana

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

itz(tli), obsidian blade, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/itztli
-tlan (locative suffix), by, among, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/tlan

Image Source: 

Codex Mendoza, folio 23 recto, https://digital.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/objects/2fea788e-2aa2-4f08-b6d9-648c00..., image 56 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).

See Also: 

itztli (Mdz42r)

itztli (Mdz16r)

tlantli (Mdz38r)