huitztli (Mdz47r)
This element for the word thorn or spine (huitztli) has been carved from the compound sign for the place name, Huitztlan. It is upright, with the point at the bottom. The thorn has thorns of its own along what for the viewer is the left side. That side is also red, perhaps recalling blood. The right side is turquoise blue.
Stephanie Wood
Thorns or spines have an association with blood letting, with has an an association, in turn, with religious offerings.
Stephanie Wood
c. 1541, but by 1553 at the latest
Stephanie Wood
thorns, spines, blood, sacrifice, sacrificio, ofrendas, sangre
huitz(tli), thorn or spine, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/huitztli
Codex Mendoza, folio 47 recto, https://digital.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/objects/2fea788e-2aa2-4f08-b6d9-648c00..., image 104 of 188.
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).