tecuhtli (Mdz17v)
This element for lord (tecuhtli) features the diadem or crown (called a xiuhhuitzolli) that a male lord would wear. It has been carved from the compound glyph of the title, Tlacatecuhtli. This diadem is shown in profile, facing to the viewer's right. It is painted turquoise blue, it has a point at the top, and it has a red (possibly leather) tie where the back of the head would be.
Stephanie Wood
The diadem (xiuhhuitzolli) does not play a phonetic role in the glyph name. It is symbolic of the title lord (tecuhtli). Its color, turquoise (xihuitl) enters into the construction of the name for the diadem.
Stephanie Wood
c. 1541, but by 1553 at the latest
Stephanie Wood
diademas, diadems, crowns, coronas, lords, nobles, señores, teuctli
tecuh(tli), lord, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/tecuhtli
xiuhhuitzo(li), turquoise diadem, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/xiuhhuitzolli
un señor
Codex Mendoza, folio 17 verso, https://digital.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/objects/2fea788e-2aa2-4f08-b6d9-648c00..., image 45 of 188.
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)