Tenanco (Mdz7v)

Tenanco (Mdz7v)
Simplex Glyph

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description: 

This simplex glyph for a tenantli (rampart, wall) also doubles as the place name Tenanco. The locative suffix -co is not shown visually, unless the wall can be counted as representing the place semantically. The rampart has three stepped crenelations and, below that, a horizontal row of three circles, with smaller concentric circles. The whole is painted turquoise.

Description, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis: 

The circles are reminiscent of the circles that run along the top of a tecpan (royal palace), as can be seen below, right. The crenelation appears to have Classic-era roots, as shapes similar to this along roof lines date back at least to Teotihuacan.

Added Analysis, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Gloss Image: 
Gloss Diplomatic Transcription: 

tenanco.puo

Gloss Normalization: 

Tenanco, pueblo

Gloss Analysis, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

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

c. 1541, or by 1553 at the latest

Creator's Location (and place coverage): 

Mexico City

Semantic Categories: 
place name
Syntax: 
locative (not visual, but represented semantically)
noun(s)
Writing Features: 
simplex or element as logogram
Cultural Content & Iconography: 
Architecture, Construction, Buildings
Names (places)
Socio-Political Units, Cities, Towns, Neighborhoods
Cultural Content, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Colors: 
blue (turquoise)
Shapes and Perspectives: 
circle(s) (small, often concentric)
crenelated
horizontal
stepped
Keywords: 

ramparts, walls, muros, murallas

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

tenan(tli), wal, fortification, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/tenantli
tenam(itl), wall, fortification, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/tenamitl

Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation: 

el muro o la muralla

Spanish Translation, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Image Source: 

Codex Mendoza, folio 7 verso, https://digital.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/objects/2fea788e-2aa2-4f08-b6d9-648c00..., image 25, 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).