tecomatl (Mdz40r)

tecomatl (Mdz40r)
Element from a Compound

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description: 

This element has been carved from the compound glyph for the place name for Cuauhtecomatlan. It is a simple, orange-clay or wooden colored, bowl-shaped cup with a pedestal or stem that is flared at the bottom.

Description, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis: 

Our online Nahuatl Dictionary provides many examples of uses for this cup, including as a vessel for alcoholic beverages and for a thick hot chocolate beverage. Tecomates, as they came to be called in Mexican Spanish, were regular items found in alphabetic, Nahuatl-language testaments, and therefore considered valuable parts of a person's estate that were worth passing on to the next generation.

James Lockhart noted a possible connection between the cuezcomatl and the comitl (ceramic jug). One can also see a phonetic relationship between the cuezcomatl and the tecomatl (wooden or ceramic cup).

Added 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

Syntax: 
noun(s)
Cultural Content & Iconography: 
Beverages
Ceramics, Pottery
Chocolate, Cocoa, Cacao
Containers, Dishes, Eating Utensils
Food, Eating, Cooking
Cultural Content, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

SVG of Glyph: 
SVG Image, Credit: 

Crystal Boulton-Scott made the SVG.

Keywords: 

cups, vessels, tazas, copas, vasos

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

tecoma(tl), cup, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/tecomatl

Additional Scholars' Interpretations: 

clay vessel, ceramic cup

Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation: 

el tecomate, vaso de barro

Spanish Translation, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Image Source: 

Codex Mendoza, folio 40 recto, https://digital.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/objects/2fea788e-2aa2-4f08-b6d9-648c00..., image 90 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).

See Also: 

Cuauhtecomatlan (Mdz40r)

Cuauhtecomatzinco (Mdz40r)