Tlacatecuhtli (Mdz18r)

Tlacatecuhtli (Mdz18r)
Compound Glyph

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description:

This compound glyph for the title tlacatecuhtli includes a turquoise diadem (xiuhhuitzolli) with a red (leather?) tie, which symbolized the term for lord (tecuhtli). The diadem is above a man's head, shown in profile view, looking to the right. He has dark hair that hangs down below his ear and with bangs. On the side of his face, near his hair, is a strip of alternating yellow and turquoise squares or horizontal stripes.

Description, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis:

The gloss indicates that this title refers to a governor (of some type). The "tlaca-" part refers to people, and the "tecuhtli" part means lord. The symbolism of the face paint or tattoo has yet to be determined. The other example we have of a Tlacatecuhtli does not include face paint or tattooing.

Added Analysis, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Gloss Image:

Gloss Diplomatic Transcription:

tlacatectli.governador

Gloss Normalization:

Tlacatecuhtli, gobernador

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

Cultural Content & Iconography:

Anatomy, human body parts

Face Paint or Tattoos

Gender (male)

Politics, Power, Governance

Social Hierarchy, Commoners, Elites

Shapes and Perspectives:

pointed (see also spiky)

striped

tied, bound, or bundled

Parts (compounds or simplex + notation):

Number of Parts, Other / Comment:

The tecuhtli part is clear, but the man's face with decoration on the cheek is less clear. The latter may have something to do with the tlacatl (person) part of the title.

Reading Order (Compounds or Simplex + Notation):

upward

Keywords:

gobernadores, títulos, diademas, governors, titles, diadems

Glyph or Iconographic Image:

Relevant Nahuatl Dictionary Word(s):

tlaca(tl) person, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/tlacatl
tecuh(tli), lord, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/tecuhtli
gobernador, a loanword from Spanish into Nahuatl for an indigenous ruler, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/gobernador

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).