Xochiacan (Mdz10r)

Xochiacan (Mdz10r)
Compound Glyph

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description:

This compound glyph for the place name Xochiacan shows a man holding flowers [xochitl). Between his nose and the flowers there are dots, suggesting that he is sniffing or smelling (iyaya) the fragrance, the perfume (xochiatl). The locative suffix (-can) is not shown visually. The man is shown in profile facing to the viewer's left. His skin tone is a terracotta color. His hair, which includes bangs with the rest falling just below the ears, is drawn simply as a group of black lines, suggesting a black hair color. The flowers have green stems or leaves at the bottom, and above that red petals, topped by yellow balls.

Description, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis:

The verb iyaya suggests a bad smell, but when combined with flower, one might expect a good-smelling fragrance instead. But, alternatively, perhaps this is a flower that has a strong, unpleasant odor.

Added Analysis, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Gloss Image:

Gloss Diplomatic Transcription:

xochiacan.pu^o

Gloss Normalization:

Xochiacan, pueblo

Gloss 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

Semantic Categories:

place name

Syntax:

locative (not visual)

noun(s)

verb

visible fragrance or odor

Cultural Content & Iconography:

Anatomy, human body parts

Socio-Political Units, Cities, Towns, Neighborhoods

Cultural Content, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Colors:

Shapes and Perspectives:

dotted, granular, textured

Reading Order (Compounds or Simplex + Notation):

left to right

Keywords:

flowers, flores, perfumes, fragrancia, fragrance, oler

Glyph or Iconographic Image:

Relevant Nahuatl Dictionary Word(s):

xochi(tl), flower, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/tlayaya
xochia(tl), perfume or fragrant liquid, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/xochiatl
iyaya, to smell bad, stink, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/iyaya
ahuiaya, to smell good, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/ahuiaya
-can (locative suffix), https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/can-2

Karttunen’s Interpretation:

"Place of Aromatic Flowers" [Frances Karttunen, "Critique of glyph catalogue in Berdan and Anawalt edition of Codex Mendoza," unpublished manuscript.]

Image Source:

Codex Mendoza, folio 10 recto, https://digital.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/objects/2fea788e-2aa2-4f08-b6d9-648c00..., image 30 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).