nochtli (Mdz42r)

nochtli (Mdz42r)
Element from a Compound

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description: 

This element has been carved from the compound sign for the place name, Teonochtitlan. The nochtli refers to the fruit from the flower that grows on the top of the prickly pear cactus. As in mamy examples, a great deal of the cactus shows, not just the fruit at the top, presumably to give a clear indication of the type of fruit involved. The fruit in this case has a green bulb shape with a yellow and red flower on top. The cactus is a two-tone green with lots of thorns, which are red at the base and white at the tip.

Description, 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: 
Food, Eating, Cooking
Plants, Flora
Cultural Content, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Colors: 
green (dark)
green (light)
white/neutral
yellow or golden
Shapes and Perspectives: 
spiky
tripartite
vertical, upright
Glyph or Iconographic Image: 
Relevant Nahuatl Dictionary Word(s): 

noch(tli), cactus fruit, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/nochtli

Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation: 

tuna

Spanish Translation, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Image Source: 

Codex Mendoza, folio 42 recto, https://digital.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/objects/2fea788e-2aa2-4f08-b6d9-648c00..., image 94 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: 

Teonochtitlan (Mdz42r)