Teotlaltzinco (MH808v)

This black-line drawing of the compound glyph for the place name Teotlaltzinco (perhaps, “At the Sacred Land” or “Little Teotlalco”) shows two large concentric circles that form a border at the far edge. The interior contains patterns of short lines and dots, perhaps suggesting a parceling and cultivation of the land. At the very center of the inner circle is the lower half of a man’s body. He wears only a loincloth and his knees are raised. Typically, this partial male body is meant to point to the tzintli (buttocks) and yet stand as a phonetic indicator for the reverential or diminutive suffix -tzin or the locative suffix -tzinco, which refers to a spinoff community. If the latter, the place name would be something like Little Teotlalco or Lower Teotlalco.