temazcalli (Mdz21v)

temazcalli (Mdz21v)
Simplex Glyph

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description:

The sign for temazcalli (steam bath) is a duplicate image of the compound place name, Temazcalapan. The steam bath consists of a building (calli) with an extension where smoke (colored purple) emerges. Water (colored turquoise) emerges from the entrance. The doorway is framed with wooden beams (colored terracotta). This is a frontal view of what is at heart a calli, with its entryway framed with wooden beams. It is likely shown in this frontal view so that the artist can clarify the specific type of building that it is and what its function is.

Description, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis:

We are identifying the glyph for temazcalli as a simplex, given that all the parts can play into meaning of steam bath. We have designated the same visual as a compound glyph for Temazcalapan, given that the -apan suffix could be read from the water that gushes out of the building. Alternatively, the water in the glyph for temazcalli could be considered part of the iconography for the steam bath, as it contributes to the making of the steam. So there is an ambiguity between the simplex and the compound hieroglyphs in this case.

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:

compound fully logographic

Cultural Content & Iconography:

Architecture, Construction, Buildings

Technology (all types), plus Tools

Water

Wood, wooden things

Cultural Content, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Colors:

Shapes and Perspectives:

frontal view

Keywords:

sweat baths, steam baths, baños de vapor

Glyph or Iconographic Image:

Relevant Nahuatl Dictionary Word(s):

a(tl), water, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/atl

Additional Scholars' Interpretations:

steam bath house

Image Source:

Codex Mendoza, folio 21 verso, https://digital.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/objects/2fea788e-2aa2-4f08-b6d9-648c00..., image 53 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).