michin (Mdz31r)

michin (Mdz31r)
Element from a Compound

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description: 

This element for a fish (michin) has been carved from the compound sign for the place name, Michmaloyan. It is left unpainted/white/natural. It has scales, while not all examples of michin do (see below, right). It is shown in profile, facing to the viewer's right. Its eye is visible, and its tail is bifurcated.

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: 
noun(s)
Cultural Content & Iconography: 
Animals, incl. Birds, Bugs, Insects, Reptiles, etc.
Marine, Maritime, Lacustrine
Cultural Content, Credit: 

Xitlali Torres

Colors: 
white/neutral
Shapes and Perspectives: 
bifurcated
diagonal or angled
facing right
profile view
Keywords: 

fish, peces

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

mich(in), fish, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/michin

Additional Scholars' Interpretations: 

fish

Image Source: 

Codex Mendoza, folio 31 recto, https://digital.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/objects/2fea788e-2aa2-4f08-b6d9-648c00..., image 72 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: 

Michmaloyan (Mdz31r)

michin (Mdz46r)

michin (Mdz46r)