poxcahui (Mdz10v)

poxcahui (Mdz10v)
Simplex Glyph

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description: 

This simplex glyph for the place name Poxcauhtlan is here doubling as an entry for the verb poxcahui (to become moldy). It appears to be a flower on its side with many spots of different colors, yellow, red, and turquoise.

Description, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis: 

Differently colored molds are known to morphology, and perhaps the Nahuas had knowledge of the wide range of molds. For example, aspergillus can be red, and aspergillus flavus is a mold yellow-green in color and gold or reddish-brown underneath. Green-black molds are especially toxic.

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: 
verb
Cultural Content & Iconography: 
Death, decay, decomposition
Cultural Content, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Colors: 
blue (turquoise)
green (light)
red
yellow or golden
Shapes and Perspectives: 
dotted, granular, textured
spotted or mottled
Keywords: 

become moldy, volverse mohoso, descomponerse

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

poxcahui, to get moldy or dank, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/poxcahui

Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation: 

volverse mohoso

Spanish Translation, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Image Source: 

Codex Mendoza, folio 10 verso, https://digital.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/objects/2fea788e-2aa2-4f08-b6d9-648c00..., image 31 of 188.

Image Source, Rights: 

Original manuscript is held by the Bodleian Libraries, University of Oxford, MS. Arch. Selden. A. 1; used here with the UK Creative Commons, “Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 License” (CC-BY-NC-SA 3.0)