Michmaloyan (Mdz31r)

Michmaloyan (Mdz31r)
Compound Glyph

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description:

This compound glyph represents the place name Michmaloyan. It has two prominent visual elements, the fish (michin) and the hand/arm (maitl) or matl). The (left) hand is doubling as a verb, the verb ma, to hunt or capture. The fish has a split tail and fins on top, bottom, and the side. It also has scales, whereas not all fish are given scales (see below, right). It has been left unpainted/natural/white. The -yan (locative suffix) is not shown visually.

Description, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis:

Thus, the -lo- (impersonal) element comes into play, as the fish is caught customarily or regularly. The locative suffix -yan is one that attaches to verbs and indicates customary action. [Frances Karttunen, unpublished manuscript, used here with her permission.] So, this would be a place where fishing occurs regularly.

Added Analysis, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Gloss Image:

Gloss Diplomatic Transcription:

michmaloyan. pu^o

Gloss Normalization:

Michmaloyan, pueblo

Gloss Analysis, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Source Manuscript:

Mendoza/Mendocino, Codex (Mdz)

Date of Manuscript:

c. 1541, or by 1553 at the latest

Creator's Location (and place coverage):

Mexico City

Semantic Categories:

place name

Syntax:

locative (not visual)

noun(s)

verb

Cultural Content & Iconography:

Anatomy, human body parts

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

Hunting and Fishing

Marine, Maritime, Lacustrine

Names (places)

Cultural Content, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Colors:

orange/terracotta

white/neutral

Shapes and Perspectives:

diagonal or angled

Reading Order (Compounds or Simplex + Notation):

upward

right to left

multidirectional

Keywords:

peces, pescar, fish, catch

Glyph or Iconographic Image:

Relevant Nahuatl Dictionary Word(s):

mich(in), fish, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/michin
mā, to catch, to hunt, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/ma-0
-lo- (passive), https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/lo
[Note: Karttunen explains that mālō is the impersonal derivation of mā, leading to the meaning that hunting or capturing customarily goes on.]
-yān (locative suffix), https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/yan
ma(tl), hand or arm, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/matl
mai(tl), hand or arm, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/maitl

Karttunen’s Interpretation:

"Place Where They Catch Fish" (aligns with the Berdan and Anawalt interpretation) [Frances Karttunen, unpublished manuscript, used here with her permission.]

Additional Scholars' Interpretations:

"Place Where They Catch Fish" (Berdan and Anawalt, 1992, vol. 1, p. )

Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation:

"El lugar donde pescan regularmente"

Spanish Translation, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

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).