cuahuitl (Mdz49r)

cuahuitl (Mdz49r)
Element from a Compound

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description: 

This element for tree(s) (cuahuitl) has been carved from the compound sign for the place name, Mictlan Cuauhtlan. This is a tall tree with otherwise classic iconography, a leader and two branches, two-tone green foliage, a terracotta-colored bark, diagonal black lines across the trunk (one thin and one thick), and curling red roots showing above the round.

Description, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis: 

he black stripes (tlilcuahuitl) are phonetic indicators that this sign is a tree (cuahuitl), something I discovered independently, but which has also been pointed out by Brígida von Mentz ("De árboles, raíces, y locativos en la iconografía del México antiguo," Tlalocan 15, 2008, 216–219).

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)
Writing Features: 
simplex or element as logogram
Cultural Content & Iconography: 
Plants, Flora
Wood, wooden things
Colors: 
black
green (dark)
green (light)
orange/terracotta
red
Shapes and Perspectives: 
roots are visible
striped
tripartite
vertical, upright
Keywords: 

trees, árboles

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

cuahui(tl), tree(s), https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/cuahuitl-1
tlilcuahui(tl), black stripe(s), https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/tlilcuahuitl

Image Source: 

Codex Mendoza, folio 49 recto, https://digital.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/objects/2fea788e-2aa2-4f08-b6d9-648c00..., image 108 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: 

Mictlan Cuauhtlan (Mdz49r)