Matlactli Omome Acatl (Mdz2r)
This combined simplex glyph and notation shows a reed (acatl) of the type found in calendrics, which is like the top of a fletched arrow planted in a cross-section of a waterway (apantli) and very symmetrical. It is surrounded by a notation involving small circles, two, plus five, plus five. One group of five circles appear in a vertical arrangement on the right side of the date. Another horizontal group of five runs across the top, separated by a small gap from the first five. Finally, two vertically arranged circles appear on the left side separated by a small gap from the top group. The entire date is boxed in (an indication that this is a date) and washed over with turquoise blue paint.
Stephanie Wood
The notation is something of a mathematical equation of 5 + 5 + 2 = 12. The reading order has yet to be confirmed, but the result of the addition would be the same. The gaps that separate the groupings of ones or counters serve as a visual ligature that functions like the plus signs in the equation. The visual is different however from the alphabetic or oral ligature (om), which only appears between the ten (matlactli) and the two (ome), resulting in matlactli omome. Finally, the turquoise blue (xihuitl) color is used as a clue that this is a year date (xihuitl), given that the two words are homophones. Calendrics were an important element in the Nahuas' religious views of the cosmos.
Stephanie Wood
c. 1541, or by 1553 at the latest
xiuhpohualli, año, turquesa, xihuitl
matlactli omome, twelve, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/matlactli-omome
tecpatl, flint, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/tecpatl
Codex Mendoza, folio 02 recto, https://digital.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/objects/2fea788e-2aa2-4f08-b6d9-648c00..., image 14 of 188.
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).
