tlalli (Mdz32r)

tlalli (Mdz32r)
Element from a Compound

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description: 

This element for tlal(li) (land, agricultural parcel) has been carved from the compound sign for the place name, Tlallachco. It has the shape of a capital I lying on its side, because it is doubling (visually) as a sign for tlachtli (ball court) in the place name. It is outlined in black and painted purple. It is textured with dots all along, just inside the external perimeter and u-shapes lying on their sides and pointed left, or backward c-shapes. We see this land from a birdseye view.

Description, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis: 

Agricultural parcels figured in the daily lives of most Nahuas, especially rural ones. Agriculture provided subsistence, tributes in kind, and, for those of some means, production for sale, trade, or the support of the pueblo's fiestas, masses for the deceased, and more. The purple color could also be called almost a gray, perhaps intending an earthy, rich appearance.

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

Syntax: 
noun(s)
Cultural Content & Iconography: 
Agriculture, Gardens, Stockraising
Land Parcels, Use, Issues
Landscape Features
Cultural Content, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Colors: 
orange/terracotta
purple
Shapes and Perspectives: 
dotted, granular, textured
horizontal
bird's eye view
rectangular
U-shapes (any direction)
Glyph or Iconographic Image: 
Relevant Nahuatl Dictionary Word(s): 

tlal(li), land, Earth, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/tlalli

Additional Scholars' Interpretations: 

agricultural parcel

Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation: 

la parcela agrícola

Spanish Translation, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Image Source: 

Codex Mendoza, folio 32 recto, https://digital.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/objects/2fea788e-2aa2-4f08-b6d9-648c00..., image 74 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: 

Tlallachco (Mdz32r)