Yacapichtlan (Mdz8r)

Yacapichtlan (Mdz8r)
Compound Glyph

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description:

This compound glyph stands for the place name Yacapichtlan (today, Yecapixtla, Morelos). The nose (yacatl). It is shown in profile, facing the viewer's left, and it is painted a terracotta color. The tepetl (hill, mountain) may be serving as a silent, visual locative in place of the typical tooth glyph (tlantli) which will normally stand for the -tlan ("place") locative suffix. The insect or spider below the nose has yet to be analyzed.

Description, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis:

The "pich" part of the place name may be represented by the ant(?) below the nose. A pichin is something small, perhaps like an insect? A bug or insect glossed "yacapich" forms another man's name in the Matrícula de Huexotzinco, which could provide the root of this place name, too.

Frances Karttunen has suggested that "pix" (from piya, to have, keep) could be at the root of this part of the place name. If so, the name could refer to a place that has a peak (since yacatl can refer to a peak). The contemporary town name is Yecapixtla (with the "x" in place of the "ch"); it is in the state of Morelos. Perhaps yacapich- is used in a phonetic role as a near homophone to yacapix-.

Added Analysis, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Gloss Image:

Gloss Diplomatic Transcription:

yacapichtlan, pu^o

Gloss Normalization:

Yacapichtlan, pueblo (today: Yecapixtla, Morelos)

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:

phonetic dimensions

place name

Syntax:

locative (not visual, but represented semantically)

noun(s)

Writing Features:

compound of phonogram(s) & logogram(s)

Cultural Content & Iconography:

Anatomy, human body parts

Animals, incl. Birds, Bugs, Insects, Reptiles, etc.

Landscape Features

Names (places)

Cultural Content, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Colors:

Shapes and Perspectives:

facing left

profile view

pointed (see also spiky)

Parts (of compounds or simplex + notation):

Reading Order (Compounds or Simplex + Notation):

downward

left to right

multidirectional

Reading Order, Notes:

top to bottom and left to right

Keywords:

cerros, picos, insectos, bichos, narices, nariz

Glyph or Iconographic Image:

Relevant Nahuatl Dictionary Word(s):

yacapich(tli), an insect or a bug?, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/yacapichtli
yaca(tl) (nose, ridge, peak), https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/yacatl
pich(in), something small, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/pichin
piya (to have), https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/piya
-tlan (locative), https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/tlan
Yecapixtlan, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/yecapixtlan

Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation:

Cerca del Pico de los Bichos (?)

Spanish Translation, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Image Source:

Codex Mendoza, folio 8 recto, https://digital.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/objects/2fea788e-2aa2-4f08-b6d9-648c00..., image 26, 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).