Tepetlacalco (Mdz20r)

Tepetlacalco (Mdz20r)
Compound Glyph

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description: 

This compound glyph for the place name Tepetlacalco includes stones (tetl), handwoven reed mats (petlatl), and a building or house [calli). The building, with many right angles, is shown in profile, facing to the viewer's right. It has the classic T-shaped beam construction at the entrance, painted a terracotta color, and therefore likely wooden. The stones have the typical alternating purple and terracotta-colored, wavy lines and the curling elements around the edges, possibly representing rocky outcroppings. the locative suffix (-co) is not shown specifically, but the local landscape shown in the compound may serve as a semantic locative.

Added Analysis, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Gloss Image: 
Gloss Diplomatic Transcription: 

tepetlacalco.puo

Gloss Normalization: 

Tepetlacalco, 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
Syntax: 
locative (not visual, but represented semantically)
noun(s)
Cultural Content & Iconography: 
Architecture, Construction, Buildings
Names (places)
Socio-Political Units, Cities, Towns, Neighborhoods
Stones, Rocks, Lapidary, Masonry
Wood, wooden things
Cultural Content, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Colors: 
orange/terracotta
purple (light)/lavender
white/neutral
yellow or golden
Shapes and Perspectives: 
right angle(s)
striped
wavy
woven
Reading Order (Compounds or Simplex + Notation): 
inherent/internal/merged
Reading Order, Notes: 

The large stones at the bottom of the glyph could be the starting point (te-), although the stone at the top could also be a starting point. The petlatl component is in the middle, but it is also merged with the calli. So, merged is another possible reading.

Keywords: 

rocks, stones, pietras, mats, petates

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

te(tl), stone or rock, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/tetl
petla(tl), handwoven reed mat, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/petlatl
petlacal(li), reed hamper, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/petlacalli
-co (locative suffix), in or at, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/co

Image Source: 

Codex Mendoza, folio 20 recto, https://digital.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/objects/2fea788e-2aa2-4f08-b6d9-648c00..., image 50 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).