milpa (CQ)

milpa (CQ)
Element from a Compound

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description: 

This element of an agricultural field (milpa) has been carved from the compound place name or toponym Coatlimilpa (or, Coatl Imilpa). The field is a vertical rectangle.

Description, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis: 

The language for what was originally milli is apparently already in transition at this late date (late sixteenth century). The -pa (directional suffix) or -pan (locative suffix) that makes milli into milpa or milpan was already being attached at c. 1593. Milpa is a term that is still widely in use in Indigenous communities of Mexico today, and at some point it became part of Mexican Spanish.

Added Analysis, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Source Manuscript: 
Quetzalecatzin, Codex (CQ)
Date of Manuscript: 

covers ruling men and women of Tecamachalco through 1593

Creator's Location (and place coverage): 

southern Puebla state

Semantic Categories: 
place name
Syntax: 
noun(s)
Cultural Content & Iconography: 
Agriculture, Gardens, Stockraising
Land Parcels, Use, Issues
Landscape Features
Names (places)
Colors: 
black & white drawing (no color)
Shapes and Perspectives: 
rectangular
right angle(s)
vertical, upright
Other Cultural Influences: 
Mixtec
Keywords: 

places, lugares

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

mil(li), smaller agricultural field, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/milli
milpan, in the maize field, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/milpan

Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation: 

La milpa

Spanish Translation, Credit: 

Randall Rodríguez

Image Source: 

The Codex Quetzalecatzin, aka Mapa de Ecatepec-Huitziltepec, Codex Ehecatepec-Huitziltepec, or Charles Ratton Codex. Library of Congress. https://www.loc.gov/item/2017590521/

Image Source, Rights: 

The Library of Congress, current custodian of this pictorial Mexican manuscript, hosts a digital version online. It is not copyright protected.

Historical Contextualizing Image: 
See Also: 

Coatl Imilpa (CQ)