Tezcatepetonco (Mdz29r)

Tezcatepetonco (Mdz29r)
Compound Glyph

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description:

This compound glyph for the place name Tezcatepetonco features a mirror (tezcatl) above a hill or mountain (tepetl). The diminutive (-ton-) and the locative (-co) are not shown visually, but perhaps the landscape provides a semantic locative. The mirror is a red circle with a black filling. Around the red perimeter are four small white circles, fairly evenly placed. The hill or mountain is the usual two-tone bell shape with curling rocky outcroppings on the slopes and red and yellow horizontal stripes at the base.

Description, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Gloss Image:

Gloss Diplomatic Transcription:

tezontepetonco.pu^o

Gloss Normalization:

Tezontepetonco, 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:

diminutive (in gloss/text)

locative (not visual, but represented semantically)

noun(s)

Cultural Content & Iconography:

Landscape Features

Names (places)

Socio-Political Units, Cities, Towns, Neighborhoods

Technology (all types), plus Tools

Cultural Content, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Colors:

Shapes and Perspectives:

bell-shaped (upright)

circle, circular or rounded

circle(s) (small, often concentric)

quincunx or quatrefoil

Parts (compounds or simplex + notation):

Reading Order (Compounds or Simplex + Notation):

downward

Keywords:

mountains, hills, montañas, cerros, espejos

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
-tepec (locative suffix), on the hill or mountain, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/tepec
ton(tli), diminutive, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/tontli

Image Source:

Codex Mendoza, folio 29 recto, https://digital.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/objects/2fea788e-2aa2-4f08-b6d9-648c00..., image 68 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).