zacatl (Mdz13r)

zacatl (Mdz13r)
Element from a Compound

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description: 

This element for zacatl (grasses, hay, forage) has been carved from the compound sign for the place name, Xiuhteczacatlan. The glyph consists of three, slightly curving stalks, somewhat shorter than others in the Codex Mendoza. They are painted yellow and have a feathering look.

Description, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis: 

Zacate comes in many varieties, and it can have a fluffy flower in some cases. In our Online Nahuatl Dictionary, one can see that the collection of grasses or hay for fodder could be an occupation or duty/service, zacate could be mentioned in testaments as important property, and it could be bought and sold.

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: 
Animals, incl. Birds, Bugs, Insects, Reptiles, etc.
Plants, Flora
Cultural Content, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood, Xitlali Torres

Colors: 
yellow or golden
Shapes and Perspectives: 
curving, curvy, curved
spiky
vertical, upright
Glyph or Iconographic Image: 
Relevant Nahuatl Dictionary Word(s): 

zaca(tl), grasses, hay, straw, forage, weeds, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/zacatl

Additional Scholars' Interpretations: 

grasses

Spanish Translation, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Image Source: 

Codex Mendoza, folio 15 recto, https://digital.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/objects/2fea788e-2aa2-4f08-b6d9-648c00..., image 36 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: 

Xiuhteczacatlan (Mdz13r)

Zacacatl (MH625r)