otli (Mdz22r)

otli (Mdz22r)
Element from a Compound

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description: 

This element has been carved from the compound sign for the place name, Tizayocan. In that compound, the road (otli) served a phonetic function, but here is is included as a logogram. It consists of three alternating footprints, heading in the direction of the viewer's right.

Description, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis: 

Footprint glyphs have a wide range of translations. In this collection, so far, we can attest to yauh, xo, pano, -pan, paina, temo, nemi, quetza, otli, iyaquic hualiloti, huallauh, tetepotztoca, totoco, -tihui, and the vowel "o." Other research (Herrera et al, 2005, 64) points to additional terms, including: choloa, tlaloa, totoyoa, eco, aci, quiza, maxalihui, centlacxitl, and xocpalli.

Added 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

Syntax: 
noun(s)
Writing Features: 
simplex or element as logogram
Cultural Content & Iconography: 
Footprint(s), human
Movement
Transportation, Travel, Roads
Cultural Content, Credit: 

Xitlali Torres

Shapes and Perspectives: 
bird's eye view
horizontal
facing right
Keywords: 

footprint, footprints, roads

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

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

Additional Scholars' Interpretations: 

road

Image Source: 

Codex Mendoza, folio 22 recto, https://digital.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/objects/2fea788e-2aa2-4f08-b6d9-648c00..., image 54 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: 

Tizayocan (Mdz22r)