tepetl (Mdz22r)

tepetl (Mdz22r)
Element from a Compound

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description: 

This element for a hill or mountain (tepetl) has been carved from the compound sign for the place name, Cuauhquemecan. To isolate the tepetl, we removed the eagle head from the top of the hill and the eagle-feather ritual bib (cuauhquemitl) from the middle; then we tried to make the hill as natural as we could. The result is still a two-toned, bell-shaped hill with curling, rocky outcroppings on the right and left slopes and the red and yellow horizontal lines near the base. The red line wraps around the yellow line at each end, following the curve of the bottom of the bell shape.

Description, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis: 

The rocky outcroppings on the left and right slopes provide a phonetic clue ("te") that this glyph is meant to be read "tepetl." Of course, mountains also typically have rocks. Regarding the yellow and red horizontal stripes, please see the article on Interiors.

Added 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 and Xitlali Torres

Colors: 
green (dark)
green (light)
red
yellow or golden
Shapes and Perspectives: 
bell-shaped (upright)
spiraling, swirling, coiling, curling
Keywords: 

mountains, hills, montañas, cerros, altepetl, stones, piedras, rocks, rocas

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

tepe(tl), hill or mountain, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/tepetl
te(tl), rock or stone, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/tetl

Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation: 

el cerro o la montaña

Spanish Translation, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Image Source: 

Codex Mendoza, folio 22 verso, 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).

See Also: 

Cuauhquemecan (Mdz22r)

tetl (Mdz48r)