xo (Mdz2r)

xo (Mdz2r)
Element from a Compound

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description: 

This element has been carved from the compound sign for the place name, Xomimitl. It is a human foot (-xo-) in profile, with the toes on our left. It is painted a terracotta flesh tone. It is unadorned and without a shoe.

Description, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis: 

The glyph has the phonetic reading of -xo-, which means "foot" in many compounds, such as: xo-pilli = toe, and xo-cpalli or ic-xo-polli, two words for the sole of the foot. Sometimes, however, -xo- can also mean green. It is important to recognize here, too, that footprints can have a phonetic value of "pan" (on) or the sounds "o" or "ot," when coming from otli, road or pathway, given that footprints on cartographic paintings typically refer to a road or path. The foot can also be symbolically representative of the verb pano, to cross or cross over.

Added 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

Syntax: 
noun(s)
xo syllable
Cultural Content, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Shapes and Perspectives: 
facing left
profile view
Glyph or Iconographic Image: 
Relevant Nahuatl Dictionary Word(s): 

xo-, an element with the sense of foot in compounds, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/xo
xopil(li), the toes of the foot, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/xopilli
icxopol(li), the sole of the foot, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/icxopolli
xocpal(li), the sole of the foot, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/xocpalli
-pan (locative suffix), https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/pan
pano, to cross or cross over, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/pano

Additional Scholars' Interpretations: 

foot

Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation: 

el pie

Spanish Translation, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Image Source: 

Codex Mendoza, folio 2 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).

See Also: 

Xomimitl (Mdz2r)