papaitl (Mdz52r)
This element for long hair, papaitl, typically worn by a minister, has been carved from the compound glyph for the place name Papantla. Papaitl and papatli are variations on the same word, which Alonso de Molina's 1571 Vocabulario translates as the unruly and long hair of certain ministers to deities. These locks are shown at an angle, stretching out to the viewer's left. One of the locks has a white tie around it, perhaps a leather thong or a paper tie. Here, the locks are not unruly, so perhaps they are really meant to be tzontli. The locks almost appear to be sprigs of a pine tree.
Stephanie Wood
See below for glyphs that show other examples of this type of hairstyle, apparently all associated with priests. Warriors also sometimes wore a large lock of hair that was ponytail-like but standing up at the top of the head. This large lock (called a tzontli, which also meant hair more generally as well as head) was typically bound with a red, probably leather, tie. Given the lack of an "n" after papa-, perhaps the place name should be Papatla, unless it is really the place of abundance of banners.
Stephanie Wood
by 1553 at the latest
Stephanie Wood
cabello largo, pelo largo, sacerdotes, ministros, deidades
papa(tli), long and unruly hair locks of priests, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/papatli
papa(itl), long and unruly hair locks of priests, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/papaitl
tzon(tli), head, hair, or the number 400, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/tzontli
Codex Mendoza, folio 52 recto, https://codicemendoza.inah.gob.mx/inicio.php?lang=english
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).
