tecpatl (Mdz16r)

tecpatl (Mdz16r)
Simplex Glyph

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description: 

This symplex glyph of a flint knife (tecpa(tl)] also stands for the place name Tecpatlan. It is vertical and divided with a diagonal line. Above the divide, the knife is painted red, and below it, the knife is white. Instead of having a point at the bottom, it has a squared-off section.

Description, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis: 

Flint knives are day and year names in the Mesoamerican 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: 
compound of phonogram(s) & logogram(s)
Cultural Content & Iconography: 
Religion (Indigenous)
Stones, Rocks, Lapidary, Masonry
Technology (all types), plus Tools
Time, Calendar, Frequency
Weapons, Shields, Armor
Cultural Content, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Colors: 
red
white/neutral
Shapes and Perspectives: 
leaf, marquise, pointed oval
frontal view
Keywords: 

knives, blades, cuchillos, navajas, calendario, xiuhpohualli, año, turquesa, xihuitl

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

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

Image Source: 

Codex Mendoza, folio 16 recto, https://digital.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/objects/2fea788e-2aa2-4f08-b6d9-648c00..., image 42 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)

See Also: 

tecpatl (Mdz8r)

Tollan (Mdz8r)

Tecpaxoch (MH632r)