tlalli (Mdz27r)

tlalli (Mdz27r)
Element from a Compound

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description: 

This element has been carved from the compound sign for the place name, Tlaahuililpan. It looks like the glyph for tlalli, even though the stem, "tlal," does not enter into this place name. It is a horizontal rectangle, divided into portions of different colors, orange and purple. It has black dots and tipped-over U-shaped markings across the various portions, seemingly suggesting cultivation, perhaps parcelling, perhaps furrows.

Description, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis: 

The tlalli glyph is silent here, but it plays into the simplex for tlaahuililli, an irrigated parcel.

Added 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: 
semantic complement
Syntax: 
noun(s)
Writing Features: 
simplex or element as logogram
Cultural Content & Iconography: 
Agriculture, Gardens, Stock Raising
Land Parcels, Use, Issues
Landscape Features
Water
Cultural Content, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Colors: 
orange/terracotta
purple
Shapes and Perspectives: 
segmented
U-shapes (any direction)
dotted, granular, textured
bird's eye view
linear or multiple straight lines
horizontal
Keywords: 

lands, parcels, tierras, agricultura, tenencia de la tierra, terrenos, sementeras, cultivation, cultivos

Glyph or Iconographic Image: 
Relevant Nahuatl Dictionary Word(s): 

tlal(li, agricultural parcel, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/tlalli
tlaahuil(li), irrigated field, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/tlaahuililli

Additional Scholars' Interpretations: 

irrigated field

Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation: 

la parcela de riego

Spanish Translation, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Image Source: 

Codex Mendoza, folio 27 recto, https://digital.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/objects/2fea788e-2aa2-4f08-b6d9-648c00..., image 64 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).

See Also: 

Tlaahuililpan (Mdz27r)