tecualo (Mdz34r)

tecualo (Mdz34r)
Simplex Glyph

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description: 

This simplex glyph of a person being eaten (with the passive voice) also stands for the place name, Tecualoyan. It shows a jaguar head with the lower end of a human (male, judging by the loincloth waist belt) body sticking out from the jaws.

Description, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis: 

A verb lies at the root of the place name, referring to people being bitten or eaten. The verb cua, at the very root, often came to have tla- in front of it, but the prefix te- is also known. A related concept is found in the word tecuani, which is an animal that eats or bites humans, a wild animal, a dangerous animal.

Added Analysis, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Gloss Analysis, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Source Manuscript: 
Mendoza/Mendocino, Codex (Mdz)
Date of Manuscript: 

by 1553 at the latest

Creator's Location (and place coverage): 

Mexico City

Syntax: 
indefinite "te"
verb
passive tense
Cultural Content & Iconography: 
Anatomy, human body parts
Animals, incl. Birds, Bugs, Insects, Reptiles, etc.
Gender (male)
Textiles, Clothing, Hats, Regalia
Cultural Content, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Keywords: 

bites, eats, man-eating animal

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

cua, to eat, to bite, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/cua
te- (nonspecific human object prefix), https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/te
-lo (passive tense indicator), https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/lo

Additional Scholars' Interpretations: 

to bite or eat humans

Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation: 

comer o morder a la gente

Spanish Translation, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Image Source: 

Codex Mendoza, folio 34 recto, https://digital.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/objects/2fea788e-2aa2-4f08-b6d9-648c00..., image 78 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: 

Tecualoyan (Mdz34r)