yauhtli (Mdz24v)

yauhtli (Mdz24v)
Element from a Compound

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description: 

This element for the plant called yauhtli has been carved from the compound sign for the place name, Yauhtepec. Five upright stems are grouped in some kind of white wrapping that includes three wing feathers and a down feather ball front and center. The arrangement of the feathers is reminiscent of those at the top of an arrow. The plant is green, and each stem ends in a yellow ball at the top.

Description, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis: 

The hint of an arrow could recall yaotl, which sounds something like yauh-, and therefore may be a phonetic complement. According to information in our Online Nahuatl Dictionary, the yahuhtli plant, smelling like anis, has been burned for centuries in place of incense. It has had a long and strong association with water deities.

Added Analysis, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

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

Cultural Content & Iconography: 
Fire, Tobacco, Incense, Smoke
Plants, Flora
Religion (Indigenous)
Water
Cultural Content, Credit: 

Xitlali Torres

Colors: 
green (light)
white/neutral
yellow or golden
Keywords: 

plants, plantas, incense, incienso, deidades de agua

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

yauh(tli), a plant smelling of anis, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/yauhtli

Additional Scholars' Interpretations: 

fragrant plant

Image Source: 

Codex Mendoza, folio 24 verso, https://digital.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/objects/2fea788e-2aa2-4f08-b6d9-648c00..., image 59 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: 

Yauhtepec (Mdz24v)

yauhtli (Mdz8r)