Coatlayauhcan (Mdz17v)

Coatlayauhcan (Mdz17v)
Simplex Glyph

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description:

This simplex glyph for the place name Coatlyauhcan has two principal elements, the snake or serpent (coatl), which is poised in the shape of an "S," with a purple back and a white belly. It has rattles on its tail, and it has a bifurcated tongue, red nearer the mouth and yellow at the tips. it is looking to our right. Two fangs are visible protruding from the mouth, white on the tips and red at the roots. The rattles have a yellow cover over the purple paint.

Description, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis:

The position of the snake is a referent for the verb tlayahua, to make certain gestures while dancing, according to Alexis Wimmer in the Gran Diccionario del Nahuatl. So, the snake holds a dancing posture, perhaps about to strike. There are other representations of snakes that appear to have their heads raised and another where it is curving and upright. See below, right, for comparisons.

Added Analysis, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Gloss Image:

Gloss Diplomatic Transcription:

coatlayauhcan. pu^o

Gloss Normalization:

Coatlayauhcan, pueblo

Gloss Analysis, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Source Manuscript:

Mendoza/Mendocino, Codex (Mdz)

Date of Manuscript:

c. 1541, or by 1553 at the latest

Creator's Location (and place coverage):

Mexico City

Semantic Categories:

place name

Syntax:

noun(s)

verb

Cultural Content & Iconography:

Animals, incl. Birds, Bugs, Insects, Reptiles, etc.

Names (places)

Socio-Political Units, Cities, Towns, Neighborhoods

Tongue Protruding/Noticeable

Cultural Content, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Colors:

Shapes and Perspectives:

curving, curvy, curved

bifurcated

profile view

facing right

Keywords:

snakes, serpents, serpientes, dientes, cohuatl

Glyph or Iconographic Image:

Relevant Nahuatl Dictionary Word(s):

coa(tl), snake or serpent, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/coatl
tlayahua, to make certain gestures while dancing, https://gdn.iib.unam.mx/diccionario/tlayahua/73091
-can (locative suffix), place where, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/can-2

Karttunen’s Interpretation:

"Place of the Coiling Snake" (Karttunen apparently agrees with the Berdan and Anawalt interpretation) [Frances Karttunen, unpublished manuscript, used here with her permission.]

Additional Scholars' Interpretations:

"Place of the Coiling Snake" (Berdan and Anawalt, 1992, vol. 1, p. 179)

Image Source:

Codex Mendoza, folio 17 verso, https://digital.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/objects/2fea788e-2aa2-4f08-b6d9-648c00..., image 45 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).