Tezcacoacatl (Mdz18r)

Tezcacoacatl (Mdz18r)
Compound Glyph

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description:

This compound glyph for the title Tezcacoacatl merges two elements, a mirror (tezcatl), which is repeated five times, and a snake or serpent (coatl). Thus, the serpent has five mirrors along the part of its body that shows (the upper half). These mirrors are filled with red and a black dot in the middle. Surrounding the circles is a black skin. The belly of the snake is white. Its head is a mottled pink and white color. It is shown in profile, looking to the viewer's right. Its eye is open. Its red tongue is bifurcated.

Description, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis:

From the contextual/historical image, one can see that the title glyph is attached to a man's head. His name glyph is farther to the left, Ome Cuauh (or Cuauhtli, eagle). For another example of a serpent with circles on its skin, such as Tezcacoacatl has, see the example of one of the names Itzcoa from the Matrícula de Huexotzinco, below.

Added Analysis, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Gloss Image:

Gloss Diplomatic Transcription:

tezcacoacatl
govnador

Gloss Normalization:

Tezcacoacatl
gobernador

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

Semantic Categories:

title/office

Syntax:

noun(s)

Cultural Content & Iconography:

Gender (male)

Tongue Protruding/Noticeable

Colors:

black

red

white/neutral

Shapes and Perspectives:

bifurcated

circle(s) (small, often concentric)

facing right

profile view

Parts (compounds or simplex + notation):

Reading Order (Compounds or Simplex + Notation):

inherent/internal/merged

Keywords:

snakes, serpents, serpientes, mirrors, espejos, cohuatl

Glyph or Iconographic Image:

Relevant Nahuatl Dictionary Word(s):

coatl, serpent, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/coatl
tezca(tl), mirror, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/tezcatl

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:

Original manuscript is held by the Bodleian Libraries, University of Oxford, MS. Arch. Selden. A. 1; used here with the UK Creative Commons, “Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 License” (CC-BY-NC-SA 3.0)

Historical Contextualizing Image: