zacatl (Mdz40r)

zacatl (Mdz40r)
Simplex Glyph

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description: 

This simplex glyph of zacatl) (grasses, weeds, forage, hay) doubles as the glyph for Zacatla, which is a place of abundance of these plants. Here, the glyph consists of three, upright, fluffy or feathery stalks of grasses painted yellow.

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

Date of Manuscript: 

c. 1541, but by 1553 at the latest

Creator's Location (and place coverage): 

Mexico City

Cultural Content & Iconography: 
Plants, Flora
Cultural Content, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Colors: 
yellow or golden
Shapes and Perspectives: 
frontal view
tripartite
vertical, upright
Keywords: 

paja, heno, popotes

Glyph or Iconographic Image: 
Relevant Nahuatl Dictionary Word(s): 

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

Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation: 

el zacate, pasto, foraje

Spanish Translation, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Image Source: 

Codex Mendoza folio 40 recto, https://digital.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/objects/2fea788e-2aa2-4f08-b6d9-648c00..., image 90 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: 

zacatl (Mdz13r)

Popotlan (Mdz17v)