Papantla (Mdz52r)
This black-line drawing of the compound glyph for the place name Papantla (or possibly Papatla) includes an upright, white banner (panitl). The flag is on the left of its post. Stretching out from the banner are two (what appear to be) hanks of hair (papaitl or tzontli?). One lock has what seems to be a paper tie.
Stephanie Wood
This can mean a place of many banners if the "n" is not intrusive. The locks of hair could refer, however, to the long locks of hair worn by priests that were called papaitl or papatli, according to Alonso de Molina. The hair, if not providing a semantic "Papa-" start to the place name, could also be indicative of tzontli (which is both hair and the number 400, providing a visual for "many"). For example, the "tzon" element shows two locks of hair in the personal name glyphs Quetzonpipique (see below). Tzontli can also be a tied lock of hair at the top of a warrior's head.
The locative suffix (-tla, or -tlah, if we show the glottal stop) refers to a place of abundance. Sometimes the final "n" of the suffix -tlan (place of) has been dropped inadvertently. But, here, the assumption is that the gloss is correct. Thus, Karttunen's interpretation includes the word "many." The noun also has a reduplication of the first syllable, relating to flags or banners.
Citing Wimmer (2004), the Gran Diccionario Náhuatl states that Papantla was a part of the tributary province of Tochpan.
Stephanie Wood
papantla.puo
Papantla, pueblo
Stephanie Wood
c. 1541, or by 1553 at the latest
Stephanie Wood
flags, banners, banderas, numbers, números
pan(itl), flag or banner, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/panitl
papa(itl), long locks of hair worn by some priests, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/papaitl
-tla (locative suffix), place of abundance of, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/tla-1
"Place of Many Banners" [Frances Karttunen, unpublished manuscript, used here with her permission.] Karttunen suggests the hanks of hair are numerical tzontli symbols, and they count 400 each. The reduplication in the name suggests a plural is operating.
"Place of Papanes [a type of bird?)" or "Good Moon" (Berdan and Anawalt, 1992, vol. 1, 198)
"El Lugar de Muchas Banderas"
Stephanie Wood
Codex Mendoza, folio 52 recto, https://digital.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/objects/2fea788e-2aa2-4f08-b6d9-648c00..., image 114 of 188.
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).
