Michtlan (Mdz46r)

Michtlan (Mdz46r)
Simplex Glyph

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description: 

This simplex glyph for the place name Michtlan also doubles as a glyph for fish (mich(in)]. This fish is shown in profile, facing to the viewer's right. It is painted a light purple color, with the belly left white/natural. Its tail is bifurcated, and it has fins on the side, top, and bottom. Its eye is open. This fish has scales, while not all do in this collection (see, for example, the one from folio 31, below right).

Description, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis: 

Karttunen notes that the -tlan suffix does not imply abundance (unlike -tla or -tlah, if we show the glottal stop), hence her favoring a simple "Fish Place" interpretation.

Added Analysis, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Gloss Image: 
Gloss Diplomatic Transcription: 

michtlan.puo

Gloss Normalization: 

Michtlan, 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): 

by 1553 at the latest

Syntax: 
locative (not visual)
Cultural Content & Iconography: 
Animals, incl. Birds, Bugs, Insects, Reptiles, etc.
Colors: 
purple (light)/lavender
white/neutral
Shapes and Perspectives: 
bifurcated
facing right
horizontal
profile view
Keywords: 

fish, peces

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

mich(in), fish, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/michin
-tlan (locative suffix), place, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/tlan

Karttunen’s Interpretation: 

"Fish Place" [Frances Karttunen, unpublished manuscript, used here with her permission.]

Additional Scholars' Interpretations: 

"Where There Are Many Fishes" (Berdan and Anawalt, 1992, vol. 1, p. 192)

Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation: 

"El Lugar del Pez"

Spanish Translation, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Image Source: 

Codex Mendoza, folio 46 recto, https://digital.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/objects/2fea788e-2aa2-4f08-b6d9-648c00..., image 102 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: 

michin (Mdz31r)

michin (Mdz46r)