Macuilli Acatl (Mdz2r)

Macuilli Acatl (Mdz2r)
Simplex Glyph
Notation

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description:

This simplex glyph for the solar year (xihuitl) date, Five Reed (Macuilli Acatl), combines with the notation for five, expressed in five small circles running from the upper right corner down the right side, and the glyph for reed (acatl). Here, the ones have dots in the middle, which is not true of all ones as expressed in dates in the Codex Mendoza (see some variations below). The acatl is expressed here as an upright cane standing in a small, symbolic body of water (apantli), and the cane is decorated with feathers, reminiscent of the arrow or dart. The entire date is enclosed in a black-line box (not visible in this image), and its contents are painted over with turquoise blue.

Description, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis:

See the water container below. If the acatl is not sitting in an apantli, perhaps the symbol below the cane is a yacametztli (nose ornament), which also appears below.

Calendrics were an important element in the Nahuas' religious views of the cosmos.

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:

calendrics

day name

year name

homophony, rebus

numbers

Syntax:

noun(s)

Writing Features:

simplex or element as logogram

Cultural Content & Iconography:

Feathers

Numbers, Math

Plants, Flora

Religion (Indigenous)

Time, Calendar, Frequency

Water

Weapons, Shields, Armor

Colors:

blue (turquoise)

Parts (of compounds or simplex + notation):

Reading Order (Compounds or Simplex + Notation):

right to left

Keywords:

dates, fechas, calendars, calendarios, números, cañas, carrizos, flechas, plantas, plumas, canales, xiuhpohualli, año, turquesa, xihuitl

Glyph or Iconographic Image:

Relevant Nahuatl Dictionary Word(s):

macuilli, five, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/macuilli
acatl, reed, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/acatl

Image Source:

Codex Mendoza, folio 02 recto, https://digital.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/objects/2fea788e-2aa2-4f08-b6d9-648c00..., image 14 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).