Teocuitlatlan (Mdz13v)

Teocuitlatlan (Mdz13v)
Compound Glyph

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description:

This compound glyph represents the place name, Teocuitlatlan. The primary feature is the gold disk (teocuitlatl), which appears to be on fire. The flames stand for the verb to burn (tlatla). Each flame has three points, and it is primarily red with an orange or yellow base. The gold disc has a cross (+) and four dots, one between each finger of the cross.

Description, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis:

The flames provide a phonetic reinforcement of the ending of the place name—-the final syllable of "teocuitla" plus the locative suffix (-tla(n)). Gordon Whittaker explains this as "sylleptic play" in his recent book Deciphering Aztec Hieroglyphs (2021).

Added Analysis, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Gloss Image:

Gloss Diplomatic Transcription:

teocuitlatlā. pu^o

Gloss Normalization:

Teocuitlatlan, 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

graphic syllepsis

Syntax:

locative (not visual)

locative (visual not silent)

noun(s)

reduplication (in gloss/text)

reduplication (visual)

verb

Cultural Content & Iconography:

Fire, Tobacco, Incense, Smoke

Metals, Minerals, Mining

Names (places)

Religion (Indigenous)

Cultural Content, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Colors:

orange/terracotta

red

yellow or golden

Shapes and Perspectives:

circle, circular or rounded

circle(s) (small, often concentric)

cross (+)

pointed (see also spiky)

quincunx or quatrefoil

three-dimensionality

Reading Order (Compounds or Simplex + Notation):

upward

Keywords:

gold, gold disks, gold pieces, flames, fire, burning, burns

Glyph or Iconographic Image:

Relevant Nahuatl Dictionary Word(s):

teocuitla(tl), gold, a piece of gold, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/teocuitlatl
tlatla, to burn, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/tlatla
-tlan (locative suffix), https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/tlan

Additional Scholars' Interpretations:

"Place of Much Gold" (Berdan & Anawalt, 1992, v. 1, p. 208)

Whittaker's Transliteration:

TEOCUITLA^tlatlan

Image Source:

Codex Mendoza, folio 13 verso, https://digital.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/objects/2fea788e-2aa2-4f08-b6d9-648c00..., image 37 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).