xilotl (Mdz44r)

xilotl (Mdz44r)
Element from a Compound

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description: 

This element has been carved from the compound sign for the place name, Cuauhxilotitlan.

Description, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis: 

The hash marks or strips on the cob make it look as though it has a face, but these markings may be an iconographic sign for maize given that they also appear on tortillas. Another possibility is that they are another "hua" syllable (from ohuatl).

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: 
Corn, Maize
Food, Eating, Cooking
Plants, Flora
Colors: 
green (light)
red
yellow or golden
Shapes and Perspectives: 
curving, curvy, curved
frontal view
vertical, upright
Glyph or Iconographic Image: 
Relevant Nahuatl Dictionary Word(s): 

xilo(tl), small, tender ear of green maize, before it solidifies, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/xilotl

Additional Scholars' Interpretations: 

tender maize ear

Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation: 

la mazorca tierna, el jilote, el elote

Image Source: 

Codex Mendoza, folio 44 recto, https://digital.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/objects/2fea788e-2aa2-4f08-b6d9-648c00..., image 98 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: 

Cuauhxilotitlan (Mdz44r)