xalli (Mdz20r)

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description:

This element for sand (xalli) has been carved from the compound place name Xaxalpan. The sand is shaped as a group of black dots in a half circle with the diameter running horizontally at the bottom of what would appear to be a mound.

Description, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis:

Comparing this atomic to others, one can see (below, right) that the dots will fill various shapes. The Xaxal- start to the place name for which this particular sign for sand is a part includes a reduplication, a repeat of part of the -xal- element. Would this suggest a plural, sands?

Added Analysis, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Source Manuscript:

Mendoza/Mendocino, Codex (Mdz)

Date of Manuscript:

by 1553 at the latest

Creator's Location (and place coverage):

Mexico City

Syntax:

noun(s)

Cultural Content & Iconography:

Dirt, Sand, Soil

Landscape Features

Colors:

black

Shapes and Perspectives:

circle (half)

dotted, granular, textured

Keywords:

sands, arenas

Glyph or Iconographic Image:

Relevant Nahuatl Dictionary Word(s):

xa(li), sand, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/xalli

Image Source:

Codex Mendoza, folio 20 recto, https://codicemendoza.inah.gob.mx/inicio.php?lang=english

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).

xalli (Mdz20r)

xalli (Mdz20r)

Xaxalpan (Mdz20r)

xalli (Mdz13r)

xalli (Mdz24v)

xalli (Mdz43r)