xochiocotzotl (Mdz51r)

xochiocotzotl (Mdz51r)
Element from a Compound

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description:

This glyph for sweet gum resin (or liquidámbar, in Spanish, and xochiocotzotl in Nahuatl) appears as a tribute item on folio 51 recto of the Codex Mendoza. It is shaped much like a flower with multiple parts (for comparisons, see below, to the right), but this glyph is entirely yellow.

Description, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis:

A very few flowers in this collection have a design similar to this one. See below for some examples.

Some 8,000 bricks ("panes" in Spanish) of sweet gum resin were expected in tributes from the cloud forest area. See Amy A. Peterson and A. Townsend Peterson, "Aztec Exploitation of Cloud Forests: Tributes of Liquidambar Resin and Quetzal Feathers," Global Ecology and Biogeography Letters 2:5 (Sept. 1992), pp. 165-173.

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)

Writing Features:

simplex or element as logogram

Cultural Content & Iconography:

Flowers

Colors:

yellow or golden

Shapes and Perspectives:

circle(s) (small, often concentric)

Keywords:

flores, liquidámbar, resinas

Glyph or Iconographic Image:

Relevant Nahuatl Dictionary Word(s):

xochiocotzo(tl), sweet gum resin, liquidambar, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/xochiocotzotl

Additional Scholars' Interpretations:

Liquid Ambar

Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation:

ámbar líquido

Spanish Translation, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Image Source:

Codex Mendoza, folio 51 recto, https://digital.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/objects/2fea788e-2aa2-4f08-b6d9-648c00..., image 112 of 118.

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).