zacatl (Mdz38r)

zacatl (Mdz38r)
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, Zacatollan. It is a group of four, feathery stalks, painted yellow. They would not be so separated if they had not been so intermixed with tules.

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

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

Image Source: 

Codex Mendoza, folio 38 recto, https://digital.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/objects/2fea788e-2aa2-4f08-b6d9-648c00..., image 86 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: 

Zacatollan (Mdz38r)