metztli (T1871:1)

metztli (T1871:1)
Simplex Glyph

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description: 

This simplex glyph for the moon (metztli), representing a month, is also representative of the adverb, metztica (monthly, or each month). It is a yellow crescent, open to the viewer's right.

Description, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis: 

This single moon is part of a group of three moons in the original manuscript, and the corresponding text explains that a certain cloth tribute item had to be gathered together and presented every three months ("hey metztica").

Added Analysis, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Source Manuscript: 
AGN Tierras 1871, exp. 1
Date of Manuscript: 

1558

Creator's Location (and place coverage): 

Cuauhtla, Morelos

Semantic Categories: 
calendrics
year name
Syntax: 
noun(s)
Cultural Content & Iconography: 
Celestial Phenomena
Time, Calendar, Frequency
Colors: 
yellow or golden
Shapes and Perspectives: 
half circle
curving, curvy, curved
Keywords: 

moons, lunas, meses, calendarios, months

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

metztli, moon, crescent, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/metztli

Image Source: 

Single-page codex, Archivo General de la Nación, México, Ramo de Tierras, vol. 1871, exp. 1, fol. 28r.

Image Source, Rights: 

The Archivo General de la Nación (AGN), México, holds the original manuscript. This image is published here under a Creative Commons license, asking that you cite the AGN and this Visual Lexicon of Aztec Hieroglyphs.