Tlaxomolco (TK205r)

Tlaxomolco (TK205r)
Compound Hieroglyph

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description:

This painted compound Nahuatl hieroglyph stands for the place name Tlaxomolco (perhaps, “At the Corner”). The compound has three elements, and the reading order is downward. At the top is a pair of white front teeth (tlantli) with a bit of red gums. This provides the phonetic syllable -tla- that comes at the start of the place name. Below that is a pottery jug (xoctli) with a rounded handle at the top. Below that is a three-legged sauce (molli) bowl, which provides the phonetic syllable -mol-. The locative suffix (-co), which is sometimes supplied with a comitl pot is not shown visually this time.

Description, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis:

Cuauhxomolco is another place name in this collection that involves a corner. It is also the only other one (as of May 1, 2026) that uses xoctli as the phonetic syllable -xo-. The important difference between a xoctli and a comitl (also a pottery vessel), is that the xoctli has a rounded handle at the top.

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 K03_A in his TLACHIA digital collection, https://tlachia.iib.unam.mx/tepetlaoztoc/K03_A.

Added Analysis, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Gloss or Text Image:

Gloss/Text Diplomatic Transcription:

tlaxomolco

Gloss/Text Normalization:

Tlaxomolco

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: tla/tlan/tlal (from tlantli)

syllable: xo or xoc (from xoctli, jug)

Writing Features:

compound fully phonographic

Cultural Content & Iconography:

Names (places)

Cultural Content, Credit:

Jeff Haskett-Wood

Colors:

red

tan

Shapes and Perspectives:

frontal view

Parts (compounds or simplex + notation):

Reading Order (Compounds or Simplex + Notation):

downward

Keywords:

rincones, esquina, esquinas, nombres de lugares, topónimo, topónimos, fonetismo, earthenware, ceramic, ceramics, cerámicas, jug, pot, olla, jarra, jarro, vessel, vessels, vasija de cerámica, cántaro, cántaros, xoctli, xoctepi, huicolli, atlacuihuani, tecomitl, tecontontli, apilolli

Glyph or Iconographic Image:

Relevant Nahuatl Dictionary Word(s):

tlaxomol(li), corner, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/tlaxomolli
tlan(tli), teeth, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/tlantli
mol(li), sauce, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/molli
-co, locative suffix, at, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/co

Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation:

En el Rincón

Spanish Translation, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

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.

Orthography:

"s" for x

Historical Contextualizing Image: