Atotonilco (Mdz8r)

Atotonilco (Mdz8r)
Simplex Glyph

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description: 

This simplex glyph for Atotonilco (perhaps "At the Hot Springs") doubles as the glyph for atotonilli (hot water). To express the concept of hot water, the glyph includes a ceramic pot (terracotta-colored) with a black bottom. It sits on two stones (with the typical wavy lines of purple and orange or terracotta coloring), and water spills over the edges of the top of the pot. The water is a turquoise blue. The -co locative suffix, intentionally or not, can be conveyed by the ceramic pot (comitl).

Description, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis: 

This simplex glyph could be considered a compound, given that it contains elements that are also glyphic in and of themselves--the stones (tetl), the water (atl), and the pot (comitl), with all their classic glyph-like characteristics (droplets or local jade stones and turbinate shells on the water and wavy lines on the stones). Atotonilco is likely a place with hot springs or thermal waters, having nothing to do with cooking, even if that visual is meant to bring forth the phonetic reading of hot water.

Pedro Carrasco (Estructura político-territorial del imperio tenochca, 2016) explains that this Atotonilco with the smaller glyph came to be called Atotonilco de Tula in Spanish, to distinguish it from Atotonilco El Grande (Hueiatotonilco).

Added Analysis, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Gloss Image: 
Gloss Diplomatic Transcription: 

atotonilco. puo

Gloss Normalization: 

Atotonilco, pueblo

Gloss 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: 
Containers, Dishes, Eating Utensils
Food, Eating, Cooking
Landscape Features
Water
Colors: 
black
blue (turquoise)
orange/terracotta
purple
white/neutral
Shapes and Perspectives: 
symmetry
Keywords: 

water, fire, cooking, fogón, cocinar, aguas calientes, aguas termales, agua hervida

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

atotonil(li), hot water, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/atotonilli
totonil(li), something heated, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/totonilli
totonil(ia), to heat something, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/totonilia
a(tl), water, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/atl
comi(tl), ceramic pot, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/comitl
-co (locative suffix), on or in, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/co

Karttunen’s Interpretation: 

"Place of Hot Water" [Frances Karttunen, unpublished manuscript, used here with her permission.]

Additional Scholars' Interpretations: 

"On the Hot Water" (Berdan & Anawalt, vol. 1)

Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation: 

"Lugar de Agua Caliente"

Spanish Translation, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Image Source: 

Codex Mendoza, folio 8 recto, https://digital.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/objects/2fea788e-2aa2-4f08-b6d9-648c00..., image 26, of 188.

Image Source, Rights: 

Original manuscript is held by the Bodleian Libraries, University of Oxford, MS. Arch. Selden. A. 1; used here with the UK Creative Commons, “Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 License” (CC-BY-NC-SA 3.0)

See Also: 

Atotonilco (Mdz30r)