tzintli (Mdz26r)
This element for rear end or buttocks (tzintli)has been carved from the compound sign for the place name, Xilotzinco. This is half of a male body (clear from the white loincloth belt), shown somewhat horizontal, in profile, facing to the viewer's right. His body is terracotta in color.
Stephanie Wood
As with all—or at least the vast majority—of examples of this glyph, the meaning "buttocks" has nothing to do with the meaning of the glyphs, although it may have a metaphorical value of "lower." When modifying a place name, as Frances Karttunen suggests, the meaning of "tzin" is new, little, or lower. It can also refer to something revered, for instance, when combined with something having the element "teo" (from teotl, divine force).
Stephanie Wood
c. 1541, but by 1553 at the latest
butts, buttocks, rear end, little, lower, bottom, nalgas, trasero
tzin(tli), buttocks, rear end, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/tzintli
-tzin-, new, little, lower, or reverential, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/tzin
Codex Mendoza, folio 26 recto, https://digital.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/objects/2fea788e-2aa2-4f08-b6d9-648c00..., image 64 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).
