Miquetlan (Mdz12r)

As Miquiyetlan or Miquetlan, this place name appears to have one or two syllables more than the similar place name in the state of Oaxaca (Mictlan, today Mitla). This is puzzling, because the meaning appears to be the same—"Where the Dead Are"—and the phonetics should be the same, too. [See: Gordon Whittaker, "The Study of North-American Place Signs," Indiana 13 (1993), 20.] Both micqui and miquetl are nouns that can refer to corpses; perhaps one is more popular in one region than another. Perhaps this version represents an influence from Huaxtec Nahuatl. The body is laid out straight in this glyph, in contrast to some representations of Mictlan that involve a seated, shrouded body. This body is obviously male (as is the posture of the shrouded corpses), but this person might not be of the same social status. The hairstyle and the ear adornment may suggest an ethnic reading associated with a particular region, such as the Huasteca (in Spanish). Another body—of a thief who was stoned to death—that also appears in the Codex Mendoza does not have this particular hairdo or earplug.