tlacochtli (FCbk9f6r)

This iconographic example, featuring a tall javelin (tlacochtli, spelled tlacochin, when intending a personal name) is included in this digital collection for the purpose of making potential comparisons with related hieroglyphs. The term selected for this example comes from the keywords chosen by the team behind the Digital Florentine Codex. There is no gloss, per se. This example shows the projectile to be taller than the man standing next to it (a ruler, the tlatoani or tlahtoani). It has a large black (probably obsidian) point resting on the ground. At the top is fletching such as might be found on an arrow or dart. The shaft is brown, seemingly wooden. Two ball shapes appear along the shaft, perhaps meant to facilitate grasping the tlacochtli or bundling them. Our Online Nahuatl Dictionary includes an example that explains how warriors could bind the weapons to their waists and swim across the water on top. This projectile is obviously associated with the lofty title of Tlacochcalcatl, and in glyphs for that name or title, the weapons are sometimes tied into a square structure (perhaps using the tlacochinamitl as a phonetic indicator). All these terms that start with tlaco- build on that term (tlacotl) for stick or piece of wood, according to A. Wimmer (2004), quoted in the Gran Diccionario Náhuatl.