tecpatl (Mdz13r)

tecpatl (Mdz13r)
Element from a Compound

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description: 

This element for a flint knife or obsidian blade (tecpatl) has been carved from the compound sign for the place name, Tecpatepec. In this example, we see three flint knives. They are red at the top and white at the bottom. A diagonal line divides the colors on each knife. The points that would appear at the lower end of the knives, which would have given them the marquise shape, are not visible; they were possibly meant to be buried in the top of the hill in the original compound glyph.

Description, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis: 

The red color may serve as a symbolic representation of blood, given that these knives could be used in sacrificial offerings. The reasons for giving three knives here is unknown as yet, but flint knives are found in both the tonalpohualli and xiuhpohualli calendars, which testifies to their religious significance.

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

Semantic Categories: 
calendrics
day name
year name
Syntax: 
noun(s)
Writing Features: 
simplex or element as logogram
Cultural Content & Iconography: 
Religion (Indigenous)
Technology (all types), plus Tools
Time, Calendar, Frequency
Weapons, Shields, Armor
Cultural Content, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Colors: 
red
white/neutral
Shapes and Perspectives: 
diagonal or angled
leaf, marquise, pointed oval
pointed (see also spiky)
tripartite
vertical, upright
Keywords: 

knives, blades, cuchillos, navajas, calendarios, xiuhpohualli

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

tecpa(tl), flint knife or obsidian blade, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/tecpatl

Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation: 

el pedernal

Spanish Translation, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Image Source: 

Codex Mendoza, folio 13 recto, https://digital.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/objects/2fea788e-2aa2-4f08-b6d9-648c00..., image 36 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: 

Tecpatepec (Mdz13r)

Tecpatepec (Mdz27r)

Tecpatzinco (Mdz24v)