Tlapacoyan (Mdz8r)

Tlapacoyan (Mdz8r)
Compound Glyph

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description: 

This compound glyph for the place name Tlapacoyan shows a hand working some cloth, with a stream of water flowing over the cloth or clothing. Tlapaca is a verb that means to wash something, i.e. to do the laundry, to wash the clothes. The locative suffix (-yan), typically applies when a verb is at the root, as Frances Karttunen has made clear. So, it is a place where clothes-washing occurs regularly.

Added Analysis: 

Tlapaca breaks down into tla- (something) and paco (washed). The full effect is tlapacoyan (a dictionary word of its own), "the place of washing clothing," which practically renders this compound glyph a simplex. Various visual elements are iconographic, such as the hand (maitl, silent, but a "semantic complement," as Gordon Whittaker might say) pushing on the fabric while the water (atl) squirts out. Another glyph for this same place name appears in the Codex Mendoza (see the attestations for this record). In that one, the alternating black and white design on the cloth is easier to discern, and the stone is much larger and clearer. The stone in this example is just a partial outline.

Added Analysis, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Gloss Image: 
Gloss Diplomatic Transcription: 

tlapacoyan. puo

Gloss Normalization: 

Tlapacoyan, pueblo

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: 
place name
Syntax: 
locative (not visual)
noun(s)
verb
Cultural Content & Iconography: 
Anatomy, human body parts
Cleanliness, Orderliness, and their absence
Names (places)
Shells
Socio-Political Units, Cities, Towns, Neighborhoods
Stones, Rocks, Lapidary, Masonry
Textiles, Clothing, Hats, Regalia
Water
Cultural Content, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Colors: 
black
blue (turquoise)
orange/terracotta
white/neutral
Shapes and Perspectives: 
circle(s) (small, often concentric)
Reading Order (Compounds or Simplex + Notation): 
inherent/internal/merged
Keywords: 

hands, arms, water, shells, washing, manos, brazos, agua, caracoles, lavando

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

tlapacoyan, a washing place, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/tlapacoyan
tla- (indefinite non-personal object, something, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/tla
tlapaca, to do the laundry, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/tlapaca
paca, to wash, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/paca
-yan (locative suffix), https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/yan
a(tl), water, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/atl
ma(itl), hand or arm, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/maitl

Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation: 

Tla-pāccō-yān = "Donde se hace el lavado de algo"

Spanish Translation, Credit: 

Miguel León-Portilla, "Los nombres de lugar en náhuatl," Estudios de Cultura Náhuatl 15 (1982), 41.

Image Source: 

Codex Mendoza, folio 8 recto, https://digital.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/objects/2fea788e-2aa2-4f08-b6d9-648c00..., image 26, 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: 

Tlapacoyan (Mdz50r)