ocotl (Mdz23r)

ocotl (Mdz23r)
Element from a Compound

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description: 

This element for torch pine wood (ocotl) has been carved from the compound sign for the place name, Ocpayocan. It shows a branch or trunk leaning to the right, with one smaller branch coming off of that, also on the right. The wood is an orange color with horizontal lines evenly spaced up the trunk and out the branch. Green foliage appears at the end of the two branches.

Description, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis: 

This wood is high in sap and burns well, which is why it is used for torches and as a starter for fire. It is much like what is called Georgia fatwood in the United States today.

Added Analysis, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

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

by 1553 at the latest

Creator's Location (and place coverage): 

Mexico City

Syntax: 
noun(s)
Cultural Content & Iconography: 
Fire, Tobacco, Incense, Smoke
Plants, Flora
Wood, wooden things
Keywords: 

fatwood, torch pine, pino, firewood, leña, ocotes

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

oco(tl), torch pine wood, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/ocotl

Additional Scholars' Interpretations: 

torch pine

Image Source: 

Codex Mendoza, folio 23 recto, https://codicemendoza.inah.gob.mx/inicio.php?lang=english

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: 

Ocpayocan (Mdz23r)

ocotl (Mdz32r)

ocotl (Mdz10r)

ocotl (Mdz39r)

Ocochichinol (MH572v)