molli (Mdz55r)
This element for molli (sauce), has been carved from the compound glyph for the place name Mollanco. The sauce here takes the shape of a molcaxitl (sauce bowl). It appears to be ceramic, round, and has three legs.
Stephanie Wood
In the original compound, the "mol" component of the place name derives from molli (sauce), which is actually indicated by the molcaxitl (sauce bowl). So, the sauce bowl is here simply representing the sauce that would be contained within the bowl, and it is not visible. In another example, we do see some dots above the bowl, indicating the contents. Interestingly, all three Mollanco glyphs from the Codex Mendoza included here share the sign for ollin (rubber), in a phonetic role. Two have the tlantli (for the lan element in the place name), and two have the sauce bowl. See below.
Stephanie Wood
by 1553 at the latest
Stephanie Wood
sauces, sauce bowls
mol(li), sauce, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/molli
molcaxi(tl), sauce bowl, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/molcaxitl
sauce bowl
Stephanie Wood
Codex Mendoza, folio 55 recto, https://codicemendoza.inah.gob.mx/inicio.php?lang=english
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).
