Quetzalmacan (Mdz28r)

Quetzalmacan (Mdz28r)
Compound Glyph

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description:

This compound glyph for the place name Quetzalmacan shows a group of quetzalli feathers held in a hand (maitl) reaching in from the viewer's left. Part of the arm is also visible. The five feathers are upright, dark green at the base, and a lighter green toward the tips. The hand (a right hand) and arm are terracotta-colored. The locative suffix (-can, where) is not shown visually.

Description, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis:

The hand may be grabbing or taking the feathers, which would imply the verb ma, even though the word for hand supplies the phonetic element -ma-. So, there may be a natural phonetic coincidence here. For other examples of compound glyphs where the hand may be grabbing, taking, or capturing something, see Mapachtepec and Toliman (among others).

Added Analysis, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Gloss Image:

Gloss Diplomatic Transcription:

queçalmacā.pu^o

Gloss Normalization:

Quetzalmacan, 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:

phonetic dimensions

place name

Syntax:

noun(s)

verb

Writing Features:

compound fully logographic

Cultural Content & Iconography:

Anatomy, human body parts

Animals, incl. Birds, Bugs, Insects, Reptiles, etc.

Feathers

Names (places)

Socio-Political Units, Cities, Towns, Neighborhoods

Cultural Content, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Colors:

green (dark)

green (light)

orange/terracotta

Shapes and Perspectives:

curving, curvy, curved

pointed (see also spiky)

spiky

wavy

Parts (compounds or simplex + notation):

Reading Order (Compounds or Simplex + Notation):

downward

Keywords:

feathers, plumas, hands, manos, arms, brazos, capture, capturar, take, tomar

Glyph or Iconographic Image:

Relevant Nahuatl Dictionary Word(s):

quetzal(li), feathers of the quetzal bird, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/quetzalli
ma(itl), hand/arm, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/maitl
ma, to capture, grab, take, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/ma-0
-can (locative suffix), where, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/can-2

Karttunen’s Interpretation:

"Place Where Quetzal Feather Are Captured" (concurring with Berdan and Anawalt) [Frances Karttunen, unpublished manuscript, used here with her permission.]

Additional Scholars' Interpretations:

"Place Where Quetzal Feather Are Captured" (Berdan and Anawalt, 1992, vol. 1, 203)

Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation:

"El Lugar Donde Se Capturan Las Plumas del Quetzal"

Spanish Translation, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Image Source:

Codex Mendoza, folio 28 recto, https://digital.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/objects/2fea788e-2aa2-4f08-b6d9-648c00..., image 66 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).