Tlacochcalcatl (Mdz65r)

Tlacochcalcatl (Mdz65r)
Compound Glyph

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description:

This compound glyph for the title Tlacochcalcatl (a general or a high judge; or, a person from a calpulli that emerged from the Seven Caves) consists of a row of three arrows (tlacochtli) atop a building (calli). These arrows have yellow (probably acatl) shafts and are decorated with gray-purple wing feathers (probably from an eagle) and white down feathers. Their tips are not visible behind the calli. The calli is a standard profile view (facing right) of a white building with T-shaped, terracotta-colored wooden beams at the entrance.

Description, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis:

Here, the house (calli) and the three spears or arrows (tlacochtli or tlacochin) standing up on the roof provide the phonetic components for the title, while they may also have a semantic value, if the high Tlacochcalcatl had an office in a special building and if his title came from prowess in war.

Added Analysis, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Gloss Image:

Gloss Diplomatic Transcription:

tlacochcalcatl.

Gloss Normalization:

tlacochcalcatl

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:

phonetic dimensions

title/office

Syntax:

noun(s)

Writing Features:

compound fully phonographic

Cultural Content & Iconography:

Architecture, Construction, Buildings

Feathers

Politics, Power, Governance

Weapons, Shields, Armor

Wood, wooden things

Cultural Content, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Colors:

gray

orange/terracotta

purple (light)/lavender

white/neutral

yellow or golden

Shapes and Perspectives:

facing right

profile view

T-shapes

Parts (compounds or simplex + notation):

Reading Order (Compounds or Simplex + Notation):

downward

Keywords:

casas, edificios, dardas, saetas, arrows, flechas, feathers, plumas, reeds, cañas, jabalinas, lanzas

Glyph or Iconographic Image:

Relevant Nahuatl Dictionary Word(s):

tlacochcalca(tl), a general or a high judge, or a pueblo official, and a name, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/tlacochcalcatl
tlacoch(tli), a type of projectile, such as an arrow or spear, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/tlacochtli
cal(li), house or building, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/calli
-co (locative suffix), at or in, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/co

Image Source:

Codex Mendoza, folio 65 recto, https://digital.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/objects/2fea788e-2aa2-4f08-b6d9-648c00...

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)