maitl (Mdz28r)

maitl (Mdz28r)
Element from a Compound

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description: 

This element for arm/hand (maitl)] or take/capture (ma) has been carved from the compound sign for the place name, Quetzalmacan. It is a horizontal arm and right hand, reaching into the frame from the left. It is colored terracotta, with the exception of the white fingernails.

Description, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis: 

We will also include this sign as an attestation of "ma," to take or capture, taking that reading from the association between the hand and the feathers of the original compound hieroglyphs (see below, right). According to Gordon Whittaker, we should pay attention to the upright hand without an arm attached versus the more horizontal or diagonal arm, which can have readings other than maitl, such as the "ma" of capture, "ana" of grab, or "poloa" of destroy. (Deciphering Aztec Hieroglyphs, 2021, 104)

Added 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

Syntax: 
noun(s)
Cultural Content & Iconography: 
Anatomy, human body parts
Cultural Content, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Colors: 
orange/terracotta
white/neutral
Keywords: 

hands, arms

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

mai(tl), hand or arm, and a measurement, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/maitl
ma(tl), hand or arm, and a measurement, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/matl
ma, take or capture, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/ma-0

Additional Scholars' Interpretations: 

hand or arm

Spanish Translation, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Image Source: 

Codex Mendoza, folio 28 recto, https://digital.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/objects/2fea788e-2aa2-4f08-b6d9-648c00..., image 66 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: 

Quetzalmacan (Mdz28r)