malinalli (Mdz16r)

malinalli (Mdz16r)
Element from a Compound

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description:

This element for malinalli (twisted grass) has been carved from the compound sign for the place name, Malinaltepec. The twisted grass is painted two shades of green and forms a figure eight, with seven yellow blooms coming largely off the top half of the figure eight and red roots at the bottom. The yellow blooms are small, solid yellow circles sprouting off the main trunk.

Description, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis:

This version is different from the malinalli day sign with the skull (see below), which has a calendrical association. This one probably emphasizes the edible grass or the dry grass/hay that could be twisted and used for tying or bundling things or building, or for medicinal uses, as explained elsewhere. In his Spanish to Nahuatl section, Alonso de Molina translates malinalli as paja (Spanish for hay).

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

Semantic Categories:

calendrics

day name

Syntax:

noun(s)

Writing Features:

simplex or element as logogram

Cultural Content & Iconography:

Flowers

Plants, Flora

Time, Calendar, Frequency

Cultural Content, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Shapes and Perspectives:

roots are visible

Keywords:

grasses, medicinal herbs, hierbas medicinales, hay, paja

Glyph or Iconographic Image:

Relevant Nahuatl Dictionary Word(s):

malinal(li), grass, twisted grass, twisted, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/malinalli

Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation:

la paja, la hierba

Spanish Translation, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Image Source:

Codex Mendoza, folio 16 recto, https://digital.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/objects/2fea788e-2aa2-4f08-b6d9-648c00..., image 42 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).