tlazotl (Mdz20v)

tlazotl (Mdz20v)
Element from a Compound

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description: 

This element for something pierced (tlazotl) has been carved from the compound sign for the place name, Tlazoxiuhco. It shows a piercing instrument made of white bone. It is piercing a piece of turquoise (xihuitl).

Description, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis: 

Carved bones were known to have been used in bloodletting, which was a religious, auto-sacrificial activity.

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)
Writing Features: 
simplex or element as logogram
Cultural Content & Iconography: 
Turquoise or Jade
Cultural Content, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Colors: 
blue (turquoise)
Keywords: 

piercings, perforaciones

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

tlazo(tl), something pierced or perforated, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/tlazotl
zozo, piercing with a needle, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/zozo

Additional Scholars' Interpretations: 

to break or split

Image Source: 

Codex Mendoza, folio 20 verso, https://digital.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/objects/2fea788e-2aa2-4f08-b6d9-648c00..., image 51 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: 

Tlazoxiuhco (Mdz20v)

xihuitl (Mdz13r)

texotli (Mdz43r)

xoxouhqui (Mdz23r)

Zozollan (Mdz15v)