Tlachmalacac (Mdz37r)

Tlachmalacac (Mdz37r)
Compound Glyph

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description:

This compound glyph for the place name Tlachmalacac has two main features. One is the ball court (tlachtli), in the typical shape of a capital letter "i" on its side. Here it is filled with a gray color and outlined with a band of white. The fluff that is being spun has sideways u's in it (seeds in the cotton?). In front of the ball court is a spindle (malacatl), with white fluff going off the top and white yarn or thread already wound around the (terracotta-colored, probably wooden) shaft. The locative suffix (-c) is not shown visually, but it may be implied by the location of the ball court.

Description, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis:

The sideways u's in the cotton fluff are reminiscent of the marks on agricultural parcels. See examples of tlalli and milli below.

Gloss Image:

Gloss Diplomatic Transcription:

tlachmalacac.pu^o

Gloss Normalization:

Tlachmalacac, pueblo

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:

place name

Syntax:

locative (not visual, but represented semantically)

noun(s)

Cultural Content & Iconography:

Agriculture, Gardens, Stockraising

Names (places)

Sports, Games, Leisure

Textiles, Clothing, Hats, Regalia

Wood, wooden things

Cultural Content, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Colors:

gray

white/neutral

Shapes and Perspectives:

horizontal

U-shapes (any direction)

vertical, upright

Parts (compounds or simplex + notation):

Reading Order (Compounds or Simplex + Notation):

back to front

Keywords:

balls, ball courts, ballcourts, canchas, pistas, pelotas, spindles, husos

Glyph or Iconographic Image:

Relevant Nahuatl Dictionary Word(s):

tlach(tli), ball court, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/tlachtli
malaca(tl), spindle, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/malacatl
-c (locative suffix), https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/c

Image Source:

Codex Mendoza, folio 37 recto, https://digital.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/objects/2fea788e-2aa2-4f08-b6d9-648c00..., image 84 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).