etl (Mdz44r)

etl (Mdz44r)
Simplex Glyph

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description: 

This simplex glyph is a representation of a single bean (etl), a black oval with a white spot along the top edge, also doubling as rthe place name of the pueblo "Etlan" (or, Etla, today in the state of Oaxaca).

Description, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis: 

This is obviously a black bean, but the Nahuas had many types of beans, as the expression in our dictionary, "nepapan etl" (varieties of beans or legumes) conveys. Beans were (and still are) a staple in the Nahua diet, an excellent source of protein. They were also an item paid as tributes-in-kind in the sixteenth century, as the Codex Mendoza shows well. See, for example, the "troxes de frisoles y de chian," on folio 44 recto.

Added Analysis, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Gloss Analysis, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Source Manuscript: 
Mendoza/Mendocino, Codex (Mdz)
Date of Manuscript: 

c. 1541, or by 1553 at the latest

Creator's Location (and place coverage): 

Mexico City

Syntax: 
noun(s)
Cultural Content & Iconography: 
Food, Eating, Cooking
Plants, Flora
Cultural Content, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Colors: 
black & white drawing (no color)
Shapes and Perspectives: 
frontal view
SVG of Glyph: 
SVG Image, Credit: 

David Elliott

Glyph or Iconographic Image: 
Relevant Nahuatl Dictionary Word(s): 

e(tl), bean or beans, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/etl

Additional Scholars' Interpretations: 

bean or beans

Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation: 

el frijol

Spanish Translation, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

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: 

etl (Mdz52r)