maitl (Mdz3v)
This element for hand/arm (maitl) has been carved from the compound sign for the place name, Acolman. It is the same visual that we are using for an attestation of acolli, shoulder, because the hand and the shoulder enter into the reading of the original place name. Here, this is a right arm, and it reaches out toward the viewer's left. It is a little misshapen because we carved away the water, which is not germane to the arm. The arm and hand have a terracotta color. The arm is bent at the elbow.
Stephanie Wood
According to Gordon Whittaker, we should pay attention to the upright hand without an arm attached versus the more horizontal or diagonal arm, which can have readings other than maitl), such as the ma of capture, ana of grab, or poloa of destroy (see: Deciphering Aztec Hieroglyphs, 2021, 104).
Stephanie Wood
c. 1541, but by 1553 at the latest
hands, arms,bones
ma(itl), hand or arm, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/maitl
ma(tl), hand/arm or measurement, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/matl
hand or arm
Codex Mendoza, folio 03 verso, https://digital.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/objects/2fea788e-2aa2-4f08-b6d9-648c00..., image 17 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).
