Xalapan (Mdz16v)

Xalapan (Mdz16v)
Compound Glyph

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description: 

This compound glyph for the place name Xalapan has two principal components, some sand (xalli), which is black dots on a white background, and a cross-section or cut-away of a canal (apantli), which provides the locative suffix -apan (at or on the waters of). In this case, the sand fills the canal framework. The framework is green with yellow hash marks and, inside that, another yellow lining. These layers line the bottom and sides of the canal. Usually, the canal is filled with turquoise-blue water, but here, a flow of water runs horizontally across the top of the sand, also at the top of the canal. The water shows lines of current, with shells or droplets (which some might identify as local jade stones) coming off the top.

Description, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Gloss Image: 
Gloss Diplomatic Transcription: 

xalapan puo

Gloss Normalization: 

Xalapan, pueblo

Gloss Analysis, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Source Manuscript: 
Date of Manuscript: 

c. 1541, but by 1553 at the latest

Creator's Location (and place coverage): 

Mexico City

Semantic Categories: 
Syntax: 
Parts (compounds or simplex + notation): 
Reading Order (Compounds or Simplex + Notation): 
Glyph or Iconographic Image: 
Relevant Nahuatl Dictionary Word(s): 
Image Source: 

Codex Mendoza, folio 16 verso, https://digital.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/objects/2fea788e-2aa2-4f08-b6d9-648c00..., image 43 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: