poctli (Mdz46r)

Curls of smoke appears in abundance in the Codex Mendoza, pouring out of a large number of temples that are tipping over in the visual shorthand for conquest. But this particular example comes from a place name glyph, making the reading of poctli very clear. This is also true of the place name glyph for Poctepec, shown here as an attestation. Poctli (principally the noun, smoke, can also be found translated as vapor or fumes, fog or mist) and the verb popoca (it smokes) will take on various shapes, as will be attested in this database. Furthermore, it is not just smoke that curls in this way, but also speech, song, and clouds.