Tollantzinco (Mdz3v)

Tollantzinco (Mdz3v)
Compound Glyph

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description:

This compound glyph for the place name Tollantzinco has two principal features, a cluster of tules (tollin) and the lower half of a male body meant to emphasize the buttocks, rear end, or bottom (tzintli). The tules are vertical and spiky, colored in two-tone green with yellow tips, and they have double yellow bumps on the top half of the blades, possibly meant to be flowers. The tules have a white base that almost resembles teeth. The half-body is vertical, in profile, facing toward the viewer's left, with the knees tucked upward. It is painted a terracotta color. Around the waist is a white belt that would have been suspending a loincloth.

Description, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis:

The tules with the white base--if that base is meant to recall teeth--could refer to tollin + tlantli, the latter meant to provide the phonetic value for -tlan-, the locative suffix, which would result in Tollan. This is the place name that is equated with Tula in modern vernacular (among other ancient cities). The tzintli provides the phonetic value for -tzin-, which refers to little or lower in place names. The suffix -tzinco (with the added -co locative for "at," and not visual in this case), when added to Tollan, provides the result of something like At the Little Tollan, or At the Lower Tollan. Karttunen prefers to think of this place name as referring to a spin-off of Tollan (and not necessaarily little).

Added Analysis, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Gloss Image:

Gloss Diplomatic Transcription:

tulançinco. pu^o

Gloss Normalization:

Tollantzinco, pueblo (Tulancingo, Hidalgo, today)

Gloss Analysis, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

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

Semantic Categories:

phonetic dimensions

place name

Syntax:

locative (visual not silent)

noun(s)

Writing Features:

compound of phonogram(s) & logogram(s)

Cultural Content & Iconography:

Anatomy, human body parts

Socio-Political Units, Cities, Towns, Neighborhoods

Textiles, Clothing, Hats, Regalia

Cultural Content, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Colors:

Shapes and Perspectives:

Parts (compounds or simplex + notation):

Reading Order (Compounds or Simplex + Notation):

downward

Keywords:

tules, tule reeds, canes, cattails, butts, buttocks, rear end, little, lower, culos, pequeño, abajo, -tzinco locative, nalgas, trasero, Tulancingo, Tulancinco, Tolancingo, Tolancinco, Tollancingo, Tollancinco, Tullancinco, Tullancingo, Tullantzinco

Glyph or Iconographic Image:

Relevant Nahuatl Dictionary Word(s):

tol(lin), tule reeds, https://aztecglyphs.wired-humanities.org/content/tollin
tzin(tli), buttocks), https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/tzintli
-tzinco (locative suffix), lower, little, or new [town], https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/tzinco
-co (locative suffix), at, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/co

Image Source:

Codex Mendoza, folio 3 verso, https://digital.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/objects/2fea788e-2aa2-4f08-b6d9-648c00..., image 17 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).