tochtli (Mdz50r)

tochtli (Mdz50r)
Element from a Compound

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description: 

This element of a rabbit (tochtli) has been carved from the compound sign for the place name, Tochtlan. It shows a full-bodied rabbit in profile, facing the viewer's right, and crouching somewhat. Its coat is purple-gray, mottled, white on the underbelly and lower side of the chin. Its visible eye is white and open, and it has protruding white teeth.

Description, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis: 

Of course, rabbits were a regular feature in the countryside. But rabbit was also a year and a day sign in the calendars. The shape visible in the moon is also a rabbit, and rabbits had an association with the alcoholic beverage (octli), called pulque in Spanish, made from the agave.

Added Analysis, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

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

c. 1541, by 1553 at the latest

Creator's Location (and place coverage): 

Mexico City

Semantic Categories: 
calendrics
day name
year name
Syntax: 
noun(s)
Cultural Content & Iconography: 
Animals, incl. Birds, Bugs, Insects, Reptiles, etc.
Teeth Protruding/Noticeable
Time, Calendar, Frequency
Cultural Content, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Colors: 
gray
purple
white/neutral
Shapes and Perspectives: 
dotted, granular, textured
facing right
profile view
Keywords: 

conejos, rabbits, animales, xiuhpohualli, año, turquesa, xihuitl

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

https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/tochtli

Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation: 

el conejo

Spanish Translation, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Image Source: 

Codex Mendoza, folio 50 recto, https://digital.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/objects/2fea788e-2aa2-4f08-b6d9-648c00..., image 110 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: 

Tochtlan (Mdz50r)

tochtli (Mdz48r)