maitl (Mdz33r)

maitl (Mdz33r)
Element from a Compound

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description: 

This representation of hand/arm (maitl--doubling as the verb ma, to grab/capture--is an arm cut off below the shoulder, bent at the elbow. The (left) hand in the act of reaching out to capture a bird. It is painted an terracotta flesh tone. The hand is open. Fingernails are visible on all but the thumb. The thumb shows that this is a left hand/arm. This glyphic element has been extracted from a compound glyph that also includes a crow, cacalotl, portraying the place name of the pueblo, Cacalomacan, with only the -can being left out of the visual representation.

Description, 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: 
verb
Writing Features: 
simplex or element as logogram
Cultural Content & Iconography: 
Anatomy, human body parts
Cultural Content, Credit: 

Xitlali Torres

Colors: 
orange/terracotta
Keywords: 

hands, arms, measurements, las manos, los brazos

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

ma(itl), hand/arm, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/maitl
ma(tl), hand, also a measurement, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/matl
ma, to take or capture, hunt, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/ma

Additional Scholars' Interpretations: 

hand, arm

Image Source: 

Codex Mendoza, folio 33 recto, https://digital.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/objects/2fea788e-2aa2-4f08-b6d9-648c00..., image 76 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: 

Cacalomacan (Mdz33r)

ma (Mdz33r)