Macuilxochic (Mdz42r)

Macuilxochic (Mdz42r)
Compound Glyph
Notation

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description:

This is a multicolored painting of the compound glyph and notation for the place name Macuilxochic ("At the Five Flowers"). pairing of two compound glyphs for a reading Macuilxochic-Cuauhquechollan. The reading begins on the right, with Macuilxochitl (or Macuilxochic), 5-Flower (macuilli) + (xochitl) + the silent locative, tepetl), a calendrical name. On the left, the eagle (cuauhtli) wears a headdress that echoes the quecholli headdress (as seen here: https://www.alamy.com/stock-photo/quecholli.html). Quecholli was also a calendrical name for a month of 20 days, so another calendar name. But the full intention here was quauhquecholli, hawk eagle.

Description, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis:

Why are there two compound glyphs here, side by side? Gordon Whittaker (Deciphering Aztec Hieroglyphs, 2021, 88) explains that this pairing reads "At 5 Xochitl" "By the Hawk Eagles," and interprets this to mean that Macuilxochic was a likely subdivision of Quauhquechollan. There was another Macuilxochic "further south in the province of Coyolapan," according to Whittaker.

Added Analysis, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Gloss Image:

Gloss Diplomatic Transcription:

quauhquechulan. pu^o

Gloss Normalization:

Cuauhquechollan, pueblo (Huaquechula, Puebla, today)

Gloss Analysis, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

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:

place name

numbers

Syntax:

locative (visual but silent)

noun(s)

Writing Features:

compound of phonogram(s) & logogram(s)

Cultural Content & Iconography:

Animals, incl. Birds, Bugs, Insects, Reptiles, etc.

Feathers

Flowers

Landscape Features

Moieties or double place names

Mouth/Beak Open

Names (places)

Numbers, Math

Time, Calendar, Frequency

Cultural Content, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Shapes and Perspectives:

circle(s) (small, often concentric)

facing right

frontal view

profile view

Reading Order (Compounds or Simplex + Notation):

right to left

Reading Order, Notes:

Not all the elements in this compound glyph are read aloud. The elements for Macuilxochic or Macuilxochitl do not enter in the place name as glossed.

Keywords:

mountains, hawk eagles, flowers, numbers, calendrics, calendars

Glyph or Iconographic Image:

Relevant Nahuatl Dictionary Word(s):

cuauhquecholl(i), and eagle with rich feathers, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/cuauhquecholli
cuauh(tli), eagle, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/cuauhtli
quechol(li), the name of a month with 20 days, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/quecholli
-tlan (locative suffix), https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/tlan
macuil(li), five, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/macuilli
xochi(tl), flower, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/xochitl

Whittaker's Transliteration:

MACUIL-XOCH.-MOUNTAIN

Image Source:

Codex Mendoza, folio 42 recto, https://digital.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/objects/2fea788e-2aa2-4f08-b6d9-648c00..., image 94 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).