Octlan (Mdz44r)

Octlan (Mdz44r)
Compound Glyph

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description: 

This compound glyph for the place name Octlan has two prominent elements. One is the bowl of pulque (octli), which is trapezoidal in shape and painted a terracotta color. The bowl has a horizontal line running close to the top of the bowl. The side of the bowl facing the viewer also has the symbol that looks like ram's horns, called the yacametztli, which is associated with pulque (though does not add to the phonetic value). The pulque beverage has a lot of white foam on top (the dots and upside down u's). On the foam sits two white, upper, front teeth (tlantli) with red gums, providing the phonetic value for the locative suffix (-tlan), near.

Description, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis: 

The locative suffix provided in the gloss (-tlan) does not imply abundance the way the -tla or -tlah suffix would, although this community was obviously known for pulque (octli).

Added Analysis, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Gloss Image: 
Gloss Diplomatic Transcription: 

octlan__ puo

Gloss Normalization: 

Octlan, pueblo

Gloss 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

Semantic Categories: 
place name
Syntax: 
locative (visual not silent)
noun(s)
Cultural Content & Iconography: 
Anatomy, human body parts
Beverages
Cultural Content, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Colors: 
orange/terracotta
red
white/neutral
Shapes and Perspectives: 
U-shapes (any direction)
trapezoidal
dotted, granular, textured
Parts (compounds or simplex + notation): 
2
Reading Order (Compounds or Simplex + Notation): 
upward
Keywords: 

alcoholic beverages, pulque, bebidas

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

oc(tli), pulque, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/octli
-tlan (locative suffix), place, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/tlan

Karttunen’s Interpretation: 

"Pulque Place" [Frances Karttunen, unpublished manuscript, used here with her permission.]

Additional Scholars' Interpretations: 

"Where There is Much Pulque" (Berdan and Anawalt, 1992, vol. 1, p. 196)

Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation: 

"El Lugar del Pulque"

Spanish Translation, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Image Source: 

Codex Mendoza, folio 44 recto, https://digital.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/objects/2fea788e-2aa2-4f08-b6d9-648c00..., image 98 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: 

octli (Mdz65r)

octli (Mdz71r)

octli (Mdz71r)

tlantli (Mdz38r)

tlantli (Mdz27r)