Teocaltzinco (Mdz23r)

Teocaltzinco (Mdz23r)
Compound Glyph

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description:

This compound Nahuatl hieroglyph for the place name Teocaltzinco ("New Teocalco") has two principal elements. One is a white, pyramidal, stepped temple (teocalli) in profile facing to the right, with a small, white building (calli) at the top of the steps, also facing the viewer's right. The t-shaped beams of the entrance to the small building are colored terracotta. Above the T is a rectangle with many small squares. The other principal element of the compound glyph is half of a male body below the temple. This is recognizable as a male because of the white loincloth belt; the positioning of the knees is also gendered male in this case. Attention is to the buttocks, bottom, or rear end of the person, indicating the word tzintli. This sign is meant to provide the phonetic value for locative suffix -tzinco, which means new, little, lesser, or lower when prior to an older place name.

Description, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis:

The word teocalli combines the teo- prefix used for divine or sacred force(s) and the term for house or building (calli). The design on the roof of the structure at the top of the pyramid is somewhat reminiscent of the one in the glyph for Capolteopan (see below). It should also be compared to the teocalli in our iconography collection (below). The buttocks (tzintli, for -tzin-, a reverential or diminutive) provides no semantic contribution that is anatomical, just the phonetic, and it only works in the Nahuatl language. When put before a place name, it stands for new, little, lesser, or lower.

Added Analysis, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Gloss or Text Image:

Gloss/Text Diplomatic Transcription:

teocalçinco.pu^o

Gloss/Text Normalization:

Teocaltzinco, pueblo

Gloss/Text 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:

phonetic dimensions

place name

Syntax:

locative (not visual)

noun(s)

syllable: tzin (from tzintli, buttocks)

Writing Features:

compound of phonogram(s) & logogram(s)

Cultural Content & Iconography:

Anatomy, human body parts

Architecture, Construction, Buildings

Body postures

Gender (male)

Names (places)

Religion (Indigenous)

Socio-Political Units, Cities, Towns, Neighborhoods

Textiles, Clothing, Hats, Regalia

Wood, wooden things

Cultural Content, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Colors:

orange/terracotta

white/neutral

Shapes and Perspectives:

Parts (compounds or simplex + notation):

Reading Order (Compounds or Simplex + Notation):

downward

Keywords:

buttocks, rear end, houses, buildings, temples, architecture, casas, edificios, templos, arquitectura nalgas, trasero, nombres de lugares

Museum/Rare Book/Realia Comparisons:

Museum/Rare Book/Realia Notes:

This would likely have been called a teocalli. It is a reconstructed temple in Tenayuca, state of Mexico. Photo, by AlejandroPZ, is in Wikimedia Commons.

Glyph or Iconographic Image:

Relevant Nahuatl Dictionary Word(s):

teocal(li), temple, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/teocalli
cal(li), house or building, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/calli
teo(tl), divine or sacred force(s), https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/teotl
tzin(tli), buttocks, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/tzintli
-co (locative suffix), https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/co
-tzinco (locative suffix), lower, little, or new [town], https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/tzinco

Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation:

Nuevo Teocalco

Spanish Translation, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Image Source:

Codex Mendoza, folio 23 recto, https://digital.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/objects/2fea788e-2aa2-4f08-b6d9-648c00..., image 56 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).

Orthography:

"ç" for z or tz