tepetl (Mdz52r)

tepetl (Mdz52r)
Element from a Compound

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description: 

This element for hill or mountain (tepetl) has been carved from the compound sign for the place name, Ocelotepec. The removal of the jaguar at the top of the hill has left some distortion. But the hill is still largely bell shaped, two-tone green, with curling, rocky outcroppings on the slopes, and red and yellow horizontal stripes at the base.

Description, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Source Manuscript: 
Mendoza/Mendocino, Codex (Mdz)
Date of Manuscript: 

c. 1541, by 1553 at the latest

Creator's Location (and place coverage): 

Mexico City

Syntax: 
locative (visual not silent)
Writing Features: 
simplex or element as logogram
Cultural Content & Iconography: 
Stones, Rocks, Lapidary, Masonry
Cultural Content, Credit: 

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

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

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

Additional Scholars' Interpretations: 

hill or mountain

Image Source: 

Codex Mendoza, folio 52 recto, https://digital.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/objects/2fea788e-2aa2-4f08-b6d9-648c00..., image 114 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: 

Ocelotepec (Mdz52r)