tzintli (Mdz25r)

tzintli (Mdz25r)
Element from a Compound

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description: 

This element, serving as the diminutive suffix (-tzin), has been carved from the compound sign for the place name, Amiltzinco. In that compound it was a phonogram, but here we are including it as a logogram. It shows the lower half of a man's body, seated, with knees together and upright. The body is bare, except for the belt of a loincloth, and the feet are bare. He is shown sitting up, in profile, facing toward the viewer's right.

Description, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis: 

The phonetic component -tzin- comes from the word for buttocks, tzintli, here shown as a man's rear end, given that we can see the white belt of the loincloth.

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: 
locative (visual not silent)
noun(s)
Writing Features: 
simplex or element as logogram
Cultural Content & Iconography: 
Anatomy, human body parts
Body postures
Gender (male)
Textiles, Clothing, Hats, Regalia
Cultural Content, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Colors: 
orange/terracotta
white/neutral
Shapes and Perspectives: 
circle, circular or rounded
facing right
profile view
vertical, upright
Keywords: 

butts, buttocks, rear end, little, lower, bottom, nalgas, trasero

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

tzin(tli), buttocks, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/tzintli
-tzin, new, little, lower, or reverential, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/tzin

Additional Scholars' Interpretations: 

buttocks or diminutive, reverential

Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation: 

las nalgas, el ano; diminutivo o reverencial

Spanish Translation, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Image Source: 

Codex Mendoza, folio 25 recto, https://digital.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/objects/2fea788e-2aa2-4f08-b6d9-648c00..., image 60 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: 

Amiltzinco (Mdz25r)

tzintli (Mdz42r)