Macuilli Tochtli (Mdz2r)
This simplex glyph for rabbit (tochtli) combines with the notation for five (macuilli) to represent the solar year (xihuitl) date, Five Rabbit (Macuilli Tochtli). The ones are small circles in a row, almost centered at the top of compound date. The circles do not have dots or smaller concentric circles inside them, the way some other ones do (see examples below). The rabbit sign consists of the head only, in profile and facing right. Its eye is open and teeth protrude from its mouth. There is a curve to the back of the jaw. The entire date is enclosed in a black-line box, which indicates that it is a date, and its contents are painted over with turquoise blue (xihuitl). Turquoise and year are homophones, and the paint might be interpreted as a phonetic indicator for the word year.
Stephanie Wood
c. 1541, or by 1553 at the latest
dates, fechas, calendars, calendarios, rabbits, conejos, números, xiuhpohualli, año, turquesa, xihuitl
macuilli, five, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/macuilli
tochtli, rabbit, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/tochtli
Cinco Conejo
Stephanie Wood
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).