Ome Tecpatl (Mdz2r)

Ome Tecpatl (Mdz2r)
Simplex Glyph
Notation

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description: 

This simplex glyph, combined with a notation, stands for a solar year (xihuitl) date, Two Flint (or Two Flint Knife). It has the notation (two ones, ome) on the top and the flint knife (tecpatl) standing upright below. The ones are small circles with a dot in the center. The knife has a diagonal line across it, leaning to the left. The entire date (including the background) is painted a turquoise (xihuitl) color, and it is enclosed in a black line-drawing box (which is not shown here).

Description, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis: 

A box is an indicator that this is a date. The terms for year and turquoise are the same--xihuitl. The use of homophony may be reflected in the turquoise blue paint washing over the contents of the box, providing a phonetic indicator that this is a year date.

Moctezuma (or Motecuhzoma) Xocoyotl died in 1520, which was a Two Flint (or Two Flint Knife) year. (See: Berdan and Anawalt, The Essential Codex Mendoza, 1997, 24.)

Added 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: 
calendrics
year name
homophony, rebus
numbers
phonetic dimensions
Syntax: 
noun(s)
Writing Features: 
simplex or element as logogram
Cultural Content & Iconography: 
Numbers, Math
Technology (all types), plus Tools
Time, Calendar, Frequency
Weapons, Shields, Armor
Colors: 
blue (turquoise)
Shapes and Perspectives: 
boxed in
circle, circular or rounded
circle(s) (small, often concentric)
diagonal or angled
leaf, marquise, pointed oval
pointed (see also spiky)
vertical, upright
Parts (compounds or simplex + notation): 
2
Reading Order (Compounds or Simplex + Notation): 
downward
Keywords: 

dates, fechas, ones, numbers, números, years, años, pedernales, xiuhpohualli, turquesa, xihuitl

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

ome, two, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/ome
tecpa(tl), flint, flint knife, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/tecpatl

Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation: 

Dos Pedernal

Spanish Translation, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Image Source: 

Codex Mendoza, folio 02 rect, https://digital.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/objects/2fea788e-2aa2-4f08-b6d9-648c00..., image 14 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).