Tecmilco (Mdz41r)
This compound glyph for the place name Tecmilco has two principal components, a diadem/crown {called the xiuhhuitzolli in Nahuatl] symbolizing a lord (tecuhtli) and an agricultural field (milli). The locative suffix (-co, "in" or "at") is not shown visually, but perhaps the landscape provides a semantic locative. The glyph for tecuhtli is a turquoise-colored diadem in profile, facing the viewer's right. It has a point at what would be the front. It has a red tie, probably a leather thong. The milli is a segmented horizontal rectangle, with the segments alternating in color between terracotta-orange and purple. Each segment is textured with sideways u's and dots. The locative suffix (-co) is not shown visually.
Stephanie Wood
One presumes the parcel of land was worked for the benefit of the tecuhtli. The texturing of the parcel suggests that it is agricultural land. The segmenting may suggest parcelling. The diadem (called a xiuhhuitzolli) regularly serves as the hieroglyph for the word "tecuhtli," given that is what a lord might wear.
Stephanie Wood
tecmilco.puo
Tecmilco, pueblo
Stephanie Wood
c. 1541, or by 1553 at the latest
Stephanie Wood
teuctli, lords, señores, diadems, diademas, parcelas, agricultura, teuctli
tecuh(tli), lord, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/tecuhtli
mil(li), agricultural field, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/milli
-co (locative suffix), https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/co
xiuhhuitzol(li), diadem, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/xiuhhuitzolli
Codex Mendoza, folio 41 recto, https://digital.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/objects/2fea788e-2aa2-4f08-b6d9-648c00..., image 92 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).
