Ocoyacac (Mdz10r)

Ocoyacac (Mdz10r)
Compound Glyph

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description: 

This compound glyph for the place name Ocoyacac has two notable elements. One is the pine torch tree (ocotl) and the other is a human nose (yacatl). The locative suffix (-c), in or at, is not shown visually. The tree is fairly standard, with a terracotta colored trunk and three branches. The branches have a two-tone green foliage at the end of each one. The curling red roots are also typical. What is different about this tree is the presence of two pine cones, hanging down from the tree's leading branch. These are what tells the viewer that this is an ocotl.

Description, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis: 

The reading of pine tree(s) is clear. What is less clear in some of the interpretations is that the human "nose" is often associated with a peak or a ridge. So, this is a community on a ridge or peak noted for pine trees, especially the pines with fat wood that were used for making torches.

Added Analysis, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Gloss Image: 
Gloss Diplomatic Transcription: 

ocoyacac. puo

Gloss Normalization: 

Ocoyacac, pueblo (Ocoyoacac today)

Gloss Analysis, 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

Semantic Categories: 
place name
Syntax: 
noun(s)
Cultural Content & Iconography: 
Fire, Tobacco, Incense, Smoke
Landscape Features
Names (places)
Plants, Flora
Socio-Political Units, Cities, Towns, Neighborhoods
Cultural Content, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Colors: 
green (dark)
green (light)
orange/terracotta
red
Shapes and Perspectives: 
roots are visible
tripartite
vertical, upright
Parts (compounds or simplex + notation): 
2
Number of Parts, Other / Comment: 

One could count the pine cones as an additional element, but they are very much part of the ocotl, for the reading would be cuahuitl, otherwise.

Reading Order (Compounds or Simplex + Notation): 
right to left
Keywords: 

pine torch, ocotes, árboles, trees, pinecones, piñas, Ocoyoacac, Ocoiacac

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

oco(tl), pine tree, pine torch, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/ocotl
yaca(tl), nose, point, ridge, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/yacatl
-yacac (locative suffix), on the ridge or peak, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/yacac

Karttunen’s Interpretation: 

"Pine Ridge" [Frances Karttunen, unpublished manuscript, used here with her permission.]

Additional Scholars' Interpretations: 

"In the Beginning of the Pine Trees" (Berdan and Anawalt, 1992, vol. 1, p. 195)

Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation: 

"En la Cresta con Pinos"

Spanish Translation, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Image Source: 

Codex Mendoza, folio 10 recto, https://digital.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/objects/2fea788e-2aa2-4f08-b6d9-648c00..., image 30 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: 

ocotl (Mdz23r)

ocotl (Mdz32r)

ocotl (Mdz39r)

Tepeyacac (Mdz10v)

ocotl (Mdz10r)

yacatl (Mdz10r)