tecuhtli (Mdz20v)
This element has been carved from the compound sign for the place name, Tecalco. It is a profile view (facing right) of a turquoise diadem or crown [the xiuhhuitzolli) with a point at the top and a red (probably leather) tie that goes around the back of the head.
Stephanie Wood
This turquoise diadem was actually called the xiuhhuitzolli (spelled variously) or xiuhtzontli, but it was a symbol for the position of tecuhtli (also spelled teuctli), for it was worn by high nobles who were leaders and residents of a teccalli (lordly house). Thus, the diadem is an ideogram for tecuhtli, and does not provide a phonetic reading. The red tie, possibly made of dyed leather, has a knot that is shaped much like the one on the maxtlatl) (loincloth).
Stephanie Wood
c. 1541, but by 1553 at the latest
lords, nobles, señores, diadems, diademas, crowns, teuctli
tecuh(tli), lord, high noble, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/tecuhtli
xiuhhuitzo(li), turquoise diadem, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/xiuhhuitzolli
Codex Mendoza, folio 20 verso, https://digital.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/objects/2fea788e-2aa2-4f08-b6d9-648c00..., image 51 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).