Moquihuix (Mdz10r)
This seemingly compound glyph for the ruler of Tlatelolco, Moquihuix, could be a simplex glyph, but if so, its iconography is complex. His face (or mask?) has two colors (half red, half terracotta orange), which could be a face paint or tattooing that gives an indication of some ethnic identity. He wears a yellow nose ornament (yacametztli, in Nahuatl, or nariguera, in Spanish) that was probably gold. His "hair" is a series of dots reminiscent of the sand (xalli) glyph. His "hair" is a series of dots reminiscent of the bubbles of the beverage called (octli), which is a phonetic indicator for the middle part of his name. His head is shown in profile, facing to the viewer's right. He also wears a white ear ornament.
Stephanie Wood
Moquihuix was the fourth ruler of Tlatelolco, 1460–1473. This glyph identifies his fuller body as he falls dying from the double temple of Tlatelolco during a legendary battle with Tenochtitlan's ruler, Axayacatl. The etymology of Moquihuix has yet to be determined.
Stephanie Wood
moquihuix. S. q[ue] fue
di tlatilulco
Moquihuix, Señor que fue de Tlatelolco
Stephanie Wood
c. 1541, but by 1553 at the latest
Stephanie Wood
nariguera, yacametztli, nose ornament
Codex Mendoza, folio 10 verso, https://digital.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/objects/2fea788e-2aa2-4f08-b6d9-648c00..., image 30 of 188.
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).