yohualli (Mdz8r)

yohualli (Mdz8r)
Element from a Compound

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description: 

This element of a night (yohualli) sky has been carved from the compound sign for the place name, Yohualtepec. It shows a circle that has been painted purple. This area has eight upside-down U-shapes. In the middle of the circle is a starry or stellar eye in red and white, with a heavy lid. Seven additional starry eyes are attached to the outside perimeter of the circle.

Description, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis: 

The suggestion is that the eyes are stars in the night (yohualli) sky, looking down upon the people of the earth. The rounded shape of the night sky might be suggested by a conceptualization of the sky as round, or perhaps there is a hint of a near homophone at play--yahualli (round).

Added Analysis, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Source Manuscript: 
Mendoza/Mendocino, Codex (Mdz)
Date of Manuscript: 

c. 1541, but by 1553 at the latest

Creator's Location (and place coverage): 

Mexico City

Syntax: 
noun(s)
Cultural Content & Iconography: 
Celestial Phenomena
Colors: 
purple
red
white/neutral
Shapes and Perspectives: 
U-shapes (any direction)
Glyph or Iconographic Image: 
Relevant Nahuatl Dictionary Word(s): 

yohual(li), night, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/yohualli

Additional Scholars' Interpretations: 

night

Image Source: 

Codex Mendoza, folio 08 recto, https://digital.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/objects/2fea788e-2aa2-4f08-b6d9-648c00..., image 25, 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).

See Also: 

Yohualtepec (Mdz8r)