tlaxcalli (Mdz58r)

tlaxcalli (Mdz58r)
Iconography

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description:

This iconographic example from the Codex Mendoza shows a tortilla (what we are labeling a tlaxcalli, despite not having a gloss as such in Nahuatl). Usually, the tortilla is a circle, rather than an oval, such as this one. But this tortilla does have the vertical, parallel, short, black lines of texturing that are much like the lines that appear on some maize cobs, such as in images for cintli (dried corn still on the cob), and on the huictli, agricultural tool. We could probably call this iconographic example a hieroglyph, given it is strikingly similar design when compared to the compound for Tlaxcallan.

Description, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis:

For other examples of tlaxcalli, see below.

Added Analysis, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Gloss Image:

Gloss Diplomatic Transcription:

una tortilla

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

Syntax:

noun(s)

Cultural Content & Iconography:

Corn, Maize

Food, Eating, Cooking

Cultural Content, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Shapes and Perspectives:

dotted, granular, textured

hash marks (maize connection)

oval (see also leaf shaped)

Keywords:

maize, corn, tortillas

Glyph or Iconographic Image:

Relevant Nahuatl Dictionary Word(s):

tlaxcal(li), tortilla, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/tlaxcalli

Image Source:

Codex Mendoza, folio 58 recto, https://digital.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/objects/2fea788e-2aa2-4f08-b6d9-648c00..., image 126 of 188.

Image Source, Rights:

Original manuscript is held by the Bodleian Libraries, University of Oxford, MS. Arch. Selden. A. 1; used here with the UK Creative Commons, “Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 License” (CC-BY-NC-SAq 3.0)