tototl (Mdz46r)

tototl (Mdz46r)
Element from a Compound

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description: 

This element has been carved from the compound sign for the place name, Tototepec. The tototl is painted a two-tone green with a white chest. Its feet and beak are yellow, and its eye is white. It stands in profile looking to the viewer's right. The one wing that is visible is raised, as though about to take flight.

Description, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis: 

Tototl seems to be a generic term for "bird." In the Codex Mendoza, the tototl is painted green. In many cases, in other codices, the author has not added color to the glyph. But in the Matricula de Huexotzinco, one tototl is a beautiful combination of red, green, and yellow.

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)
Cultural Content & Iconography: 
Animals, incl. Birds, Bugs, Insects, Reptiles, etc.
Cultural Content, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Colors: 
green (dark)
green (light)
white/neutral
yellow or golden
Keywords: 

birds, pájaros

Glyph or Iconographic Image: 
Additional Scholars' Interpretations: 

bird

Spanish Translation, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Image Source: 

Codex Mendoza, folio 46 recto, https://digital.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/objects/2fea788e-2aa2-4f08-b6d9-648c00..., image 102 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: 

Tototepec (Mdz46r)

tototl (Mdz13r)

tototl (Mdz48r)