temo (Mdz27r)

temo (Mdz27r)
Compound Glyph

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description: 

This compound glyph doubles here to represent the verb temo, to descend. We could have carved the two black footprints by themselves, but we decided to leave the white, rectangular pyramid that the feet are descending, to make that action clearer.

Description, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis: 

Footprint glyphs have a wide range of translations. In this collection, so far, we can attest to yauh, xo, pano, -pan, paina, temo, nemi, quetza, otli, iyaquic hualiloti, huallauh, tepal, tetepotztoca, totoco, otlatoca, -tihui, and the vowel "o." Other research (Herrera et al, 2005, 64) points to additional terms, including: choloa, tlaloa, totoyoa, eco, aci, quiza, maxalihui, centlacxitl, and xocpalli.

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)
verb
Writing Features: 
simplex or element as logogram
Cultural Content & Iconography: 
Anatomy, human body parts
Architecture, Construction, Buildings
Footprint(s), human
Movement
Religion (Indigenous)
Colors: 
black
black & white drawing (no color)
white/neutral
Shapes and Perspectives: 
stepped
rectangular
pyramidal
bird's eye view
Parts (compounds or simplex + notation): 
2
Reading Order (Compounds or Simplex + Notation): 
inherent/internal/merged
Keywords: 

foot, feet, stepped pyramic, pirámide, pies, huellas, huella, footprint, footprints

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

temo, to descend, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/temo

Image Source: 

Codex Mendoza, folio 27 recto, https://digital.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/objects/2fea788e-2aa2-4f08-b6d9-648c00..., image 64 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)