nantli (Mdz21v)

nantli (Mdz21v)
Element from a Compound

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description: 

This element for mother {nantli, theoretically, but it is always possessed, losing the absolutive ending, and could be given the name -nan-) has been carved from the compound sign for the place name, Tonanitlan. The element is a woman's head in profile, facing toward the viewer's right. The woman has wrinkles. Her hair is white and twisted up with points above her forehead. Her mouth is open slightly, and some teeth are visible. Her skin is tan.

Description, 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)
Cultural Content & Iconography: 
Aging (People, Animals, Things)
Family, Kinship, even Friendship
Gender (female)
Cultural Content, Credit: 

Xitlali Torres

Colors: 
tan
white/neutral
Shapes and Perspectives: 
facing right
profile view
wrinkles
Glyph or Iconographic Image: 
Relevant Nahuatl Dictionary Word(s): 

https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/nantli

Additional Scholars' Interpretations: 

mother

Image Source: 

Codex Mendoza, folio 21 verso, https://digital.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/objects/2fea788e-2aa2-4f08-b6d9-648c00..., image 53 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: 

Tonan Itlan (Mdz21v)