tetl (Mdz18r)

tetl (Mdz18r)
Element from a Compound

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description: 

This element for stone (tetl) comes from the place name Tetzapotitlan. These stones all have the alternating purple and terracotta-colored, wavy lines. The original compound also had one more, larger stone--horizontal, and with curling ends. But these smaller ones are just small round stones, mimicking the fruit that grows on the tzapote tree.

Description, 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: 
noun(s)
Cultural Content & Iconography: 
Landscape Features
Names (places)
Stones, Rocks, Lapidary, Masonry
Colors: 
orange/terracotta
purple
Shapes and Perspectives: 
circle(s) (small, often concentric)
frontal view
tripartite
wavy
Keywords: 

stones, rocks, piedras

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

te(tl), stone, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/tetl-0

Image Source: 

Codex Mendoza, folio 18 recto, https://digital.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/objects/2fea788e-2aa2-4f08-b6d9-648c00..., image 46 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: 

tetl (Mdz48r)

Tetzapotitlan (Mdz18r)