Tlatozcac (TK206v)

Tlatozcac (TK206v)
Compound Hieroglyph

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description:

This painted compound Nahuatl hieroglyph represents the place name Tlatozcac (perhaps, “At the Throat of Something,” speaking of a land formation). The compound has three elements, and the reading order is downward. At the top is a frontal view of a pair of white teeth (tlantli) with red gums, which represents here the phonetic syllable -tla-, providing the start to the place name, Tla-. Moving down, the next element consists of a frontal view of a pair of yellow-ish wings spread wide. These are the wings of a toztli (yellow parrot), and they supply the phonetic syllable -toz- that appears in the middle of the place name. Finally, a sandal (cactli) at the bottom of the compound contributes the phonetic syllable -cac to the end of the name. The meaning of place name has nothing to do with teeth, wings, or sandals. Rather, the compound is fully phonographic.

Description, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis:

Raúl Macuil defines tlatozcac as “garganta del monte” or “cañón” (throat of the woods or canyon). This is apparently a case, like many others, where a body part is equated with a landscape feature. Other examples are acolli (shoulder for a bend or cove), tentli (lips for an edge or border), yacatl (nose for a point, peak, or a leader), nacaztli (ear for a side or corner), tzintli (rear end for lower or little), and maitl (hand or arm for land measurements). Tzontli (head or hair) can also have various other readings.

Side Note: The folio numbers are not always clear in the copy published online by the British Museum. Marc Thouvenot gives this page the number K04_B in his TLACHIA digital collection, https://tlachia.iib.unam.mx/tepetlaoztoc/K04_B.

Added Analysis, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Gloss or Text Image:

Gloss/Text Diplomatic Transcription:

tlatozcac

Gloss/Text Normalization:

Tlatozcac

Gloss/Text Analysis, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Source Manuscript:

Tepetlaoztoc, Codex (aka Kingsborough) (TK)

Date of Manuscript:

c. 1556

Creator's Location (and place coverage):

Tepetlaoztoc, East of Lake Tetzcoco

Semantic Categories:

phonetic dimensions

place name

Syntax:

noun(s)

syllable: ca/cac (from cactli, sandal)

syllable: tla/tlan/tlal (from tlantli)

syllable: toz (from toztli, yellow parrot)

Writing Features:

compound fully phonographic

Cultural Content & Iconography:

Anatomy, human body parts

Animals: Birds

Names (places)

Textiles, Clothing, Hats, Shoes, Regalia

Cultural Content, Credit:

Jeff Haskett-Wood

Colors:

red

white/neutral

yellow or golden

Shapes and Perspectives:

frontal view

Keywords:

gargantas, cañones, paisaje, loro, loros, huarache, huaraches, dientes, ala, alas, nombres de lugares, topónimo, topónimos, fonetismo

Glyph or Iconographic Image:

Relevant Nahuatl Dictionary Word(s):

toz(tli), yellow-headed parrot,, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/toztli
tozcac, throat, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/tozcac
tla-, indefinite prefix, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/tla

Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation:

posiblemente, Garganta del Monte o Cañón

Spanish Translation, Credit:

Raúl Macuil

Image Source:

The Codex Kingsborough, also known as the Códice de Tepetlaoztoc, and the Memorial de los indios de Tepetlaoztoc, is not on display. It was transferred from the British Library and is now held by the British Museum. It is shared on line at: https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/E_Am2006-Drg-13964

Image Source, Rights:

©The Trustees of the British Museum. Shared under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0) license. Please also cite the <em>Visual Lexicon of Aztec Hieroglyphsem>, ed. Stephanie Wood (Eugene, Ore.: Wired Humanities Projects, 2020-present) and this URL.

Historical Contextualizing Image: