tlachpanoni (Mdz57r)

tlachpanoni (Mdz57r)
Iconography

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description:

This example of iconography shows a broom, referred to in Spanish as "la escoba." We have labeled it a tlachpanoni, a dictionary term for broom, but we wish to admit that this name is not given in the document in association with this broom. The broom is yellow, horizontal, and the handle is on the viewer's left. A small white tie is just visible on the handle, which is in fact a bundle of twigs tied together.

Description, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis:

The glyph for the place name Popotlan shows some striking similarities to this broom, being a bundle of yellow plant branches bound together with something white (a strip of leather, perhaps?). In Mexican Spanish today, we think of popotes as straws for drinking, but popotl originally referred to "broom straw." The yellow branches also call to mind zacatl, a type of hay or straw that can have small branches that could work for making brooms. See below for examples.

Added Analysis, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Gloss Image:

Gloss Diplomatic Transcription:

la escoba

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

Syntax:

noun(s)

Cultural Content & Iconography:

Plants, Flora

Shapes and Perspectives:

horizontal

tied, bound, or bundled

Keywords:

escobas, brooms, ramas, ramitas atadas

Glyph or Iconographic Image:

Relevant Nahuatl Dictionary Word(s):

tlachpanoni

Image Source:

Codex Mendoza, folio 57 recto, https://digital.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/objects/2fea788e-2aa2-4f08-b6d9-648c00..., image 124 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)