temamatlatl (CST12)

temamatlatl (CST12)
Simplex Glyph

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description:

This painting of the simplex glyph for the term temamatlatl, which usually refers to a stone stairway, here seems to represent a wooden structure. Perhaps it was used for carrying (mama) a load of stones (tetl).

Description, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis:

This ladder-like shape does resemble other carrying frames. See some examples below. Kevin Terraciano suggests the translation, “wood to make a stairway.” For more on the Codex Sierra, see his study (2021, especially p. 144).

Added Analysis, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Gloss Image:

Source Manuscript:

Sierra/Texupan, Codex (CST)

Date of Manuscript:

1550–1564

Creator's Location (and place coverage):

Santa Catalina Texupan, Mixteca Alta, Oaxaca

Syntax:

noun(s)

Writing Features:

simplex or element as logogram

Cultural Content & Iconography:

Architecture, Construction, Buildings

Stones, Rocks, Lapidary, Masonry

Wood, wooden things

Cultural Content, Credit:

Jeff Haskett-Wood

Colors:

red

white/neutral

Shapes and Perspectives:

frontal view

Other Cultural Influences:

Mixtec

Keywords:

escalera, escalas, piedras, madera

Glyph or Iconographic Image:

Relevant Nahuatl Dictionary Word(s):

temamatla(tl), stone steps, stairway, or the like, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/temamatlatl
mama, to carry, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/mama
te(tl), stones, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/tetl

Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation:

posiblemente, estructura portante de madera

Spanish Translation, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Image Source:

Códice Sierra-Texupan, plate 12, page dated [1]554. Origin: Santa Catalina Texupan, Mixteca Alta, State of Oaxaca. Kevin Terraciano has published an outstanding study of this manuscript (Codex Sierra, 2021), and in his book he refers to alphabetic and “pictorial” writing, not hieroglyphic writing. We are still counting some of the imagery from this source as hieroglyphic writing, but we are also including examples of “iconography” where the images verge on European style illustrations or scenes showing activities. We have this iconography category so that such images can be fruitfully compared with hieroglyphs. Hieroglyphic writing was evolving as a result of the influence of European illustrations, and even alphabetic writing impacted it.
https://bidilaf.buap.mx/objeto.xql?id=48281&busqueda=Texupan&action=sear...

Image Source, Rights:

The Biblioteca Digital Lafragua of the Biblioteca Histórica José María Lafragua in Puebla, Mexico, publishes this Códice Sierra-Texupan, 1550–1564 (62pp., 30.7 x 21.8 cm.), referring to it as being in the “Public Domain.” This image is published here under a Creative Commons license, asking that you cite the Biblioteca Digital Lafragua and this Visual Lexicon of Aztec Hieroglyphs.

Historical Contextualizing Image: