Xocoyocan (Mdz55r)

Xocoyocan (Mdz55r)
Compound Glyph

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description:

This compound glyph for the place name Xocoyocan features a xocotl, a native plum tree. The tree has a leader and two branches, one on each side. The trunk and branches are a terracotta color. Green leaves appear sporadically along the branches. At the tip of the leader and the two branches are three yellow balls, presumably the sour fruit that the tree is known to produce. Below the tree is a footprint (xo), black, and meant to give the viewer a clue that this is not just any tree, but a tree that begins with the sound of "xo," a regularly recurring type of phonetic reinforcement. The -yotl) (abstract nominal suffix meaning "full of" or "a lot of") is also represented by the foot, which can have a phonetic value of "o" (from otli, road])." The -can (locative suffix) is definitely not shown visually.

Description, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis:

If this place is not known for its xocotl trees, it could be a place known for something relating to households' youngest children, drawing from (xocoyotl), although we have no visual indications of this.

In the compound from which this footprint derives, it appears below another glyphic element, and therefore it is referring to a road (otli). It provides the phonetic "yo" (referring to a place characteristic of that other thing, full of it, having a lot of it). (See: Gordon Whittaker's discussion of the placement of footprints in Deciphering Aztec Hieroglyphs, 2021, 100.

Footprint glyphs have a wide range of translations. In this collection, so far, we can attest to yauh, xo, pano, -pan, paina, temo, nemi, quetza, otli, iyaquic hualiloti, huallauh, tetepotztoca, totoco, -tihui, and the vowel "o." Other research (Herrera et al, 2005, 64) points to additional terms, including: choloa, tlaloa, totoyoa, eco, aci, quiza, maxalihui, centlacxitl, and xocpalli.

Added Analysis, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Gloss Image:

Gloss Diplomatic Transcription:

xocoyocan. pu^o

Gloss Normalization:

Xocoyocan, 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:

noun(s)

Writing Features:

compound of phonogram(s) & logogram(s)

Cultural Content & Iconography:

Anatomy, human body parts

Food, Eating, Cooking

Footprint(s), human

Names (places)

Plants, Flora

Cultural Content, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Colors:

Shapes and Perspectives:

circle(s) (small, often concentric)

tripartite

vertical, upright

Reading Order (Compounds or Simplex + Notation):

downward

Keywords:

sour fruits, frutas agrias, trees, árboles

Glyph or Iconographic Image:

Relevant Nahuatl Dictionary Word(s):

xo, foot, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/xo
xoco(tl), a native plum tree, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/xocotl
-yo(tl)-, having that characteristic or quality/inalienable possession, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/yotl
xocoyo(tl), youngest child, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/xocoyotl
o(tli), road or path, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/otli
-can (locative suffix), https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/can-2

Image Source:

Codex Mendoza, folio 55 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).