Tochtzonco (Mdz48r)

Tochtzonco (Mdz48r)
Compound Glyph

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description:

This compound glyph for the place name Tochtzonco contains two elements, a rabbit (tochtli) and a lock of human hair (tzontli) from the top of a head. A tzontli is also a number, standing for four hundred. The rabbit is only shown as a head, in profile, looking to the viewer's right. It is a textured gray-purple color, with white under the chin, white fangs, and a white (open) eye. The tzontli is upright, the hair comes to a point at the top, and the lower half is wrapped with what is a red leather thong. The locative suffix (-co), at or by, is not shown visually.

Description, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis:

A similar red leather tie is called a "cinta de cuero rojo," employed in the process of tying up one's hair to be converted into a warrior, according to Guy Stresser-Péan (1995, 45). (See our Bibliography for the full citation to his study.)

Gloss Image:

Gloss Diplomatic Transcription:

tuchçonco.pu^o

Gloss Normalization:

Tochtzonco, pueblo

Gloss 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:

place name

Syntax:

locative (not visual)

noun(s)

Cultural Content & Iconography:

Anatomy, human body parts

Animals, incl. Birds, Bugs, Insects, Reptiles, etc.

Hair (human or animal)

Leather, hides

Names (places)

Numbers, Math

Socio-Political Units, Cities, Towns, Neighborhoods

Teeth Protruding/Noticeable

Cultural Content, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Colors:

purple

red

white/neutral

Shapes and Perspectives:

facing right

profile view

pointed (see also spiky)

vertical, upright

Parts (compounds or simplex + notation):

Reading Order (Compounds or Simplex + Notation):

upward

Keywords:

conejos, cuatrocientos, cabello envuelto

Glyph or Iconographic Image:

Relevant Nahuatl Dictionary Word(s):

toch(tli), rabbit, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/tochtli
tzon(tli), 400 or a lock of human hair, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/tzontli
-co (locative suffix), https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/co
temilo(tli), a warrior hairstyle, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/temilotli
tlatzonilpia, to tie up the hair, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/tlatzonilpia

Image Source:

Codex Mendoza, folio 48 recto, https://digital.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/objects/2fea788e-2aa2-4f08-b6d9-648c00..., image 106 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).