tochtli (Mdz17v)

tochtli (Mdz17v)
Element from a Compound

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description: 

This element for rabbit (tochtli) has been carved from the compound sign for the place name, Cuauhtochco. It shows a rabbit with a purple-gray coat, facing to our right, crouching low to the ground. Its underside is white, and it has white protruding teeth.

Description, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis: 

Rabbit was a year sign in the calendar. The shape visible in the moon is also a rabbit, and rabbits had an association with the alcoholic beverage (octli) made from the agave.

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

Semantic Categories: 
calendrics
day name
year name
Syntax: 
noun(s)
Cultural Content & Iconography: 
Animals, incl. Birds, Bugs, Insects, Reptiles, etc.
Religion (Indigenous)
Teeth Protruding/Noticeable
Time, Calendar, Frequency
Cultural Content, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Keywords: 

rabbits, xiuhpohualli, año

Museum & Rare Book Comparisons: 
Museum/Rare Book Notes: 

tochtli. This stone rabbit-shaped receptacle is thought to have held pulque and was associated with rites honoring the deity Ometochtli. Museo Nacional de Antropología e Historia, Salón Mexica. Photograph by Stephanie Wood, 14 February 2023.

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

toch(tli), rabbit, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/tochtli

Additional Scholars' Interpretations: 

rabbit

Spanish Translation, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Image Source: 

Codex Mendoza, folio 17 verso, https://digital.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/objects/2fea788e-2aa2-4f08-b6d9-648c00..., image 45 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: 

tochtli (Mdz50r)

tochtli (Mdz48r)

tochtli (Mdz46r)

tochtli (Mdz8r)

Cuauhtochco (Mdz17v)