nahuatl (Mdz7v)

nahuatl (Mdz7v)
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 sign for the place name, Cuauhnahuac. It shows a mouth carved in a terracotta-colored tree trunk, and from the tree's mouth a speech scroll emerges, curl side down, and going in the direction of the viewer's left.

Description, 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

Syntax: 
verb
visible sound
Cultural Content & Iconography: 
Speech, Speaking, Oral Tradition
Colors: 
blue (sky blue)
tan
Shapes and Perspectives: 
facing left
profile view
spiraling, swirling, coiling, curling
volute(s)
Keywords: 

speech, language, speak, hablar, lenguaje, idiomas, cerca de

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

nahua, speech, language, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/nahuatl
nahua, to speak, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/nahua
-nahuac, near or next to, nahua, to speak, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/nahuac

Image Source: 

Codex Mendoza, folio 07 verso, https://digital.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/objects/2fea788e-2aa2-4f08-b6d9-648c00..., image 25, 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).