tepetl (Mdz22r)

tepetl (Mdz22r)
Simplex Glyph

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description: 

This simplex glyph for tepetl) (hill, mountain) also stands for the place name, Tezonyocan. This hill is made up of volcanic stone called tezontli. The visuals really primarily point to stone (tetl), with its classical purple and orange wavy lines or stripes, but the shape is clearly that of a hill or mountain, with the rocky outcroppings on the slopes and the red and yellow horizontal stripes at the base. It is only the two-tone green color that has been replace with the colors and wavy strips of stone.

Description, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis: 

The tezontli (volcanic rock) part of the tepetl) is impossible to separate or isolate from the hill/mountain shape. The word tepetl) does not enter into the place name Tezonyocan, but the shape is classic, and therefore it is identified here as a visual variant.

Added Analysis, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Gloss 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: 
locative (visual but silent)
noun(s)
Cultural Content & Iconography: 
Landscape Features
Stones, Rocks, Lapidary, Masonry
Cultural Content, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Colors: 
orange/terracotta
purple (light)/lavender
red
yellow or golden
Shapes and Perspectives: 
bell-shaped (upright)
spiraling, swirling, coiling, curling
wavy
Keywords: 

mountains, hills, montañas, cerros, altepetl

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

tepe(tl), hill, mountain, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/tepetl

Additional Scholars' Interpretations: 

silent container and place

Spanish Translation, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Image Source: 

Codex Mendoza, folio 22 recto, https://digital.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/objects/2fea788e-2aa2-4f08-b6d9-648c00..., image 54 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).