tentli (Mdz51r)

tentli (Mdz51r)
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, Atenco. In that compound the tentli played a phonetic role, but here, isolated, they are a logogram. The lips are expressed as half a face, including the lips, 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: 

Glyphs for tentli will often have more than just lips. Sometimes the jaw or chin are even more prominent than the lips, and we have one example that is an entire head. See various examples below.

Added 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

Syntax: 
noun(s)
Writing Features: 
simplex or element as logogram
Cultural Content & Iconography: 
Anatomy, human body parts
Cultural Content, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

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

lips, edges, bordes, labios, mentón, barbilla

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

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

Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation: 

los labios

Spanish Translation, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Image Source: 

Codex Mendoza, folio 51 recto, https://digital.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/objects/2fea788e-2aa2-4f08-b6d9-648c00..., image 112 of 118.

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: 

Atenco (Mdz51r)

Tenton (MH526v)

tentli (Mdz17v)

tentli (Mdz27r)

tentli (MH498r)

Tecocohua (MH551r)