Mollanco (Mdz16r)

Mollanco (Mdz16r)
Compound Glyph

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description: 

This compound glyph stands for the place name Mollanco. It differs from the two others from the Codex Mendoza (see below, right). This one only has two principal visual elements, a cross-section of a black rubber (olli) ball (with a white ring around it) and two front teeth (tlantli), white with red gums. The teeth provide the phonetic indicator for the -tlan- element in the place name (which goes to -lan following the l in mol-). The locative suffix (-co), for in or at, is not shown visually.

Description, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis: 

This glyph may include a combination of mol- plus -tlan, making it seem prudent to normalize the gloss from a single l to a double l. One other glyph for Mollanco adds a sauce (molli) bowl. Thus, the translation may be something about a place where things are ground (like a mill) or sauces are made. If so, then the rubber ball is a phonetic indicator. Further research is required to sort out the meaning of this place name with any certainty. Two towns with the Hispanized name Molango are located in Hidalgo and in Veracruz today.

Added Analysis, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Gloss Image: 
Gloss Diplomatic Transcription: 

molanco. puo

Gloss Normalization: 

Mollanco, 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
phonetic dimensions
Syntax: 
locative (not visual)
noun(s)
Writing Features: 
compound of phonogram(s) & logogram(s)
Cultural Content & Iconography: 
Anatomy, human body parts
Names (places)
Rubber
Cultural Content, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Colors: 
black
red
white/neutral
Shapes and Perspectives: 
cross-sectioned object
frontal view
Parts (compounds or simplex + notation): 
2
Reading Order (Compounds or Simplex + Notation): 
downward
Keywords: 

motion, movement, rubber, rubber balls, teeth, movimiento, hule, pelotas, dientes

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

ol(li), rubber, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/olli
mola, to grind something or to be ground up, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/mola
tlan(tli), tooth/teeth, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/tlantli
-tlan (locative suffix), by, near, among, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/tlan
-co (locative suffix), https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/co

Karttunen’s Interpretation: 

"At Mōllān" or "At the Grinding Place" [Frances Karttunen, unpublished manuscript, used here with her permission.]

Additional Scholars' Interpretations: 

"In the Place of Many Rubber Bowls" (Berdan and Anawalt, 1992, vol. 1, p. 193)

Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation: 

"El Lugar del Mole" o "El Lugar del Molcajete" o "El Lugar para Moler"

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).

See Also: 

olli (Mdz16r)

tlantli (Mdz38r)

Mollanco (Mdz13r)

Mollanco (Mdz55r)

tlantli (Mdz16r)