nahuatl (Mdz6r)

nahuatl (Mdz6r)
Element from a Compound

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description: 

This element for speech (nahuatl) or the verb to speak (nahua) has been carved from the compound glyph for the place name Cuauhnahuac on folio 6 recto of the Codex Mendoza. Here, a tree trunk emits the speech scroll that provides the word nahuatl that is a phonetic indicator for -nahuac. The scroll emerges going to the viewer's left from the tree trunk's "mouth." It has a curl turning under (toward the ground). It is painted turquoise blue.

Description, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis: 

In the original compound, the glyph for speech has nothing to do with speaking but, rather, provides the phonetic element for -nahuac, a locative meaning near.

Added Analysis, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Source Manuscript: 
Mendoza/Mendocino, Codex (Mdz)
Date of Manuscript: 

c. 1541, but by 1553 at the latest

Creator's Location (and place coverage): 

Mexico City

Syntax: 
noun(s)
verb
visible sound
Cultural Content & Iconography: 
Speech, Speaking, Oral Tradition
Cultural Content, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Colors: 
blue (turquoise)
orange/terracotta
Shapes and Perspectives: 
facing left
profile view
spiraling, swirling, coiling, curling
volute(s)
Keywords: 

speak, speech, hablar, habla

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

nahua(tl), speech, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/nahuatl
nahua, to speak, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/nahua
nahuac (locative suffix), near, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/nahuac

Image Source: 

Codex Mendoza, folio 6 recto, https://digital.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/objects/2fea788e-2aa2-4f08-b6d9-648c00..., image 22, 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: 

nahuatl (Mdz2v)

nahuatl (Mdz71r)