xictli (Mdz12r)

xictli (Mdz12r)
Simplex Glyph

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description: 

This simplex glyph for an umbilical cord (toxic) double as the place name for Toxico. The cord appears to have been made into a necklace (cozcatl), but that does not enter into the name. The cord is white, drawn with black lines. It forms something of a heart shape, coming to a point at the bottom and having a tie at the top. The ends of the tie are fringed. There may be beads on the cord and little ties where the beads stop on both sides of the necklace.

Description, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis: 

A synonym for toxic is xictli, which raises the question of whether toxic is xictli with a first person plural possessive pronoun (to-). Another version of xictli in the Codex Mendoza, with the cord still attached to an abdomen, appears below right.

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: 
Anatomy, human body parts
Cultural Content, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Colors: 
white/neutral
Keywords: 

umbilical cords, navels, obligos

Glyph or Iconographic Image: 
Image Source: 

Codex Mendoza, folio 12 recto, https://digital.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/objects/2fea788e-2aa2-4f08-b6d9-648c00..., image 34 of 188.

Image Source, Rights: 

Original manuscript is held by the Bodleian Libraries, University of Oxford, MS. Arch. Selden. A. 1; used here with the UK Creative Commons, “Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 License” (CC-BY-NC-SA 3.0)

See Also: 

Toxicco (Mdz12r)

xictli (Mdz20v)