tecuhtli (Mdz20v)

tecuhtli (Mdz20v)
Element from a Compound

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description: 

This element has been carved from the compound sign for the place name, Tecalco. It is a profile view (facing right) of a turquoise diadem or crown [the xiuhhuitzolli) with a point at the top and a red (probably leather) tie that goes around the back of the head.

Description, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis: 

This turquoise diadem was actually called the xiuhhuitzolli (spelled variously) or xiuhtzontli, but it was a symbol for the position of tecuhtli (also spelled teuctli), for it was worn by high nobles who were leaders and residents of a teccalli (lordly house). Thus, the diadem is an ideogram for tecuhtli, and does not provide a phonetic reading. The red tie, possibly made of dyed leather, has a knot that is shaped much like the one on the maxtlatl) (loincloth).

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

Syntax: 
noun(s)
Writing Features: 
simplex or element as logogram
Cultural Content & Iconography: 
Leather, hides
Politics, Power, Governance
Social Hierarchy, Commoners, Elites
Turquoise or Jade
Colors: 
blue (turquoise)
red
Shapes and Perspectives: 
facing right
profile view
pointed (see also spiky)
tied, bound, or bundled
Keywords: 

lords, nobles, señores, diadems, diademas, crowns, teuctli

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

tecuh(tli), lord, high noble, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/tecuhtli
xiuhhuitzo(li), turquoise diadem, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/xiuhhuitzolli

Image Source: 

Codex Mendoza, folio 20 verso, https://digital.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/objects/2fea788e-2aa2-4f08-b6d9-648c00..., image 51 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: 

Tecalco (Mdz20v)