Petlatlan (Mdz38r)

Petlatlan (Mdz38r)
Compound Glyph

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description:

This compound glyph represents the place name Petlatlan. At the top is the element of the woven mat (petlatl), and below that the teeth (tlantli) that provide the phonetic value of the locative suffix, -tlan. The horizontal petlatl is a standard yellow color, and the classic weaving pattern is like a herringbone. The teeth are the very typical two front teeth, white, with red gums above them.

Description, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis:

It is important to remember that the teeth have no meaning in the place name; rather, they provide the phonetic element for the locative suffix. And, it is clear from the gloss that the suffix is -tlan (place of) and not -tla or tlah (place of abundance of).

Added Analysis, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Gloss Image:

Gloss Diplomatic Transcription:

petlatlan / pu^o

Gloss Normalization:

Petlatlan, pueblo

Gloss 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:

place name

Syntax:

locative (visual not silent)

noun(s)

Cultural Content & Iconography:

Anatomy, human body parts

Names (places)

Cultural Content, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Colors:

red

white/neutral

yellow or golden

Shapes and Perspectives:

rectangular

woven

Reading Order (Compounds or Simplex + Notation):

downward

Keywords:

mats, petates, teeth, dientes

Glyph or Iconographic Image:

Relevant Nahuatl Dictionary Word(s):

petla(tl)<, woven mat, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/petlatl
-tlan (locative suffix), https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/tlan

Karttunen’s Interpretation:

"Reed Mat Place" [Frances Karttunen, unpublished manuscript, used here with her permission.]

Additional Scholars' Interpretations:

"Where There are Many Mats" (Berdan and Anawalt, 1992, vol. 1, 199)

Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation:

"El Lugar de Petates"

Spanish Translation, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Image Source:

Codex Mendoza, folio 38 recto, https://digital.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/objects/2fea788e-2aa2-4f08-b6d9-648c00..., image 86 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).