xochicuahuitl (Mdz50r)

xochicuahuitl (Mdz50r)
Element from a Compound

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description:

This element has been carved from the compound sign for the place name, Xochicuauhtitlan ("Near the Liquid Ambar Trees"). The glyph consists of a tree (cuahuitl) with an orange trunk and branches, three of them with yellow flowers (xochitl) at the ends, and one smaller branch, leaning or our left, with two-tone green foliage. The yellow flowers have small concentric circles at their base and two small circles each, at their tips.

Description, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis:

The xochicuahuitl) flower is fairly rare. One other example appears in this collection as of December 2023.

Added Analysis, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Source Manuscript:

Mendoza/Mendocino, Codex (Mdz)

Date of Manuscript:

c. 1541, by 1553 at the latest

Creator's Location (and place coverage):

Mexico City

Syntax:

noun(s)

Writing Features:

simplex or element as logogram

Cultural Content & Iconography:

Flowers

Plants, Flora

Cultural Content, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Colors:

Shapes and Perspectives:

circle(s) (small, often concentric)

tripartite

vertical, upright

Keywords:

flowers, trees, flowering trees, ámbar líquido

Glyph or Iconographic Image:

Relevant Nahuatl Dictionary Word(s):

xochi(tl), flower(s), https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/xochitl
cuahui(tl), tree(s), https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/cuahuitl
xochicuahui(tl), flowering tree, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/xochicuahuitl

Additional Scholars' Interpretations:

flowering tree

Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation:

el arbol de ámbar líquido

Spanish Translation, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Image Source:

Codex Mendoza, folio 50 recto, https://digital.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/objects/2fea788e-2aa2-4f08-b6d9-648c00..., image 110 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).