Tezcatepec (Osu35v)

Tezcatepec (Osu35v)
Compound Hieroglyph

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description:

This painted compound Nahuatl hieroglyph represents the place name Tezcatepec ("At Mirror Mountain" or "At Mirror Hill"). It starts at the top with a mirror (tezcatl), which is a black circle surrounded by a white edge and four evenly placed, small white circles with black dots in the center. These seem to add a vibrance or shimmer. Mirrors were round, flat, polished obsidian stones. They were shiny, capable of making a reflection. Under this mirror is a standard tepetl, a green bell-shaped hill or mountain, which plays a role in the place name (-tepec), apparently as a part of the local landscape

Description, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Gloss or Text Image:

Gloss/Text Diplomatic Transcription:

tezcatepec

Gloss/Text Normalization:

Tezcatepec

Gloss/Text Analysis, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Source Manuscript:

Osuna, Codex (Osu)

Date of Manuscript:

1551–1565

Creator's Location (and place coverage):

Mexico City

Semantic Categories:

place name

Grammar & Linguistics:

noun(s)

Writing Features:

compound fully logographic

Cultural Content & Iconography:

Landscape Features

Names (places)

Stones, Rocks, Lapidary, Masonry

Technology (all types), plus Tools

Cultural Content, Credit:

Jeff Haskett-Wood

Colors:

Shapes and Perspectives:

bell-shaped (upright)

frontal view

shimmer, vibrance, shine with warmth & movement

Parts (compounds or simplex + notation):

Reading Order (Compounds or Simplex + Notation):

downward

Keywords:

espejo, espejos, obsidiana, nombres de lugares, place names, topónimo, topónimos

Glyph or Iconographic Image:

Relevant Nahuatl Dictionary Word(s):

tezca(tl), mirror, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/tezcatl
tepe(tl), hill or mountain, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/tepetl
-c (locative suffix), in, on, or at, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/c

Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation:

"En la Montaña del Espejo" o "En el Cerro del Espejo"

Spanish Translation, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Image Source:

Library of Congress Online Catalog and the World Digital Library, Osuna Codex, or Painting of the Governor, Mayors, and Rulers of Mexico, https://www.loc.gov/resource/gdcwdl.wdl_07324/. The original is located in the Biblioteca Nacional de España.

Image Source, Rights:

"The Library of Congress is unaware of any copyright or other restrictions in the World Digital Library Collection. Absent any such restrictions, these materials are free to use and reuse." But please cite the Biblioteca Nacional de España and this Visual Lexicon of Aztec Hieroglyphs if you use any of these images here or refer to the content on this page, providing the URL

Historical Contextualizing Image: