maitl (Mdz47r)

maitl (Mdz47r)
Element from a Compound

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description: 

This element for arm or hand (maitl) has been carved from the compound sign for the place name, Mapachtepec. It is a forearm with a left hand, reaching from left to right. The skin is terracotta colored, but the fingernails are white.

Added Analysis: 

According to Gordon Whittaker, we should pay attention to the upright hand without an arm attached versus the more horizontal or diagonal arm, which can have readings other than maitl, such as the ma of capture, ana of grab, or poloa of destroy (see: Deciphering Aztec Hieroglyphs, 2021, 104). In this case, the arm and hand are reaching out to take the clump of straw, which makes the verb ma (take/capture) more likely the intention here than maitl (hand/arm), but both produce the ma sound, so they reinforce each other.

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

Syntax: 
noun(s)
Writing Features: 
simplex or element as logogram
Cultural Content & Iconography: 
Anatomy, human body parts
Cultural Content, Credit: 

Xitlali Torres

Colors: 
orange/terracotta
white/neutral
Shapes and Perspectives: 
horizontal
Glyph or Iconographic Image: 
Relevant Nahuatl Dictionary Word(s): 

ma(itl), hand or arm, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/maitl
ma(tl), hand, arm, or measurement, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/matl
ma, take or capture, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/ma-0

Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation: 

la mano, el brazo

Spanish Translation, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Image Source: 

Codex Mendoza, folio 47 recto, https://digital.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/objects/2fea788e-2aa2-4f08-b6d9-648c00..., image 104 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: 

Mapachtepec (Mdz47r)