tentli (Mdz17v)

tentli (Mdz17v)
Element from a Compound

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description: 

This element showing lips (tentli) has been carved from the compound sign for the place name, Chalco Atenco. In that compound the tentli played a phonetic role, but here, isolated as an element, it is a logogram. The lips are expressed as half a face, including the lips (and the lower lip is especially prominent), some of the one cheek that appears (given this is a profile, facing right), and the chin. This partial face has a terracotta skin color.

Description, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis: 

This glyph for tentli) refers to a location when speaking of landscapes, not literally body parts. Thus, the Atenco part of this place name refers to the location at the edge of the water, i.e. lake.

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: 
Anatomy, human body parts
Landscape Features
Mouth/Beak Open
Cultural Content, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Colors: 
orange/terracotta
Shapes and Perspectives: 
circle, circular or rounded
profile view
Keywords: 

lips, edges, labios, orillas, bordes

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

ten(tli), lip, edge, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/tentli

Additional Scholars' Interpretations: 

lip

Whittaker's Transliteration: 

TEN(TLI)

Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation: 

el labio, la borde, la orilla

Spanish Translation, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Image Source: 

Codex Mendoza, folio 17 verso, https://digital.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/objects/2fea788e-2aa2-4f08-b6d9-648c00..., image 45 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: 

Chalco Atenco (Mdz17v)

tentli (Mdz51r)

tentli (Mdz27r)

Tenton (MH526v)