Tlatelolco (Mdz6r)

Tlatelolco (Mdz6r)
Simplex Glyph

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description: 

This glyph for the place name Tlatelolco consists of a half-circle, purple mound on a short and wide, white rectangular base. The mound is dotted. This is a tlatelli, also spelled tlatilli.

Description, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis: 

The locative suffix -co is not shown. The internal element, -ol- has not yet been analyzed; if it is not represented visually, we may need to reclassify this glyph as a compound. The presence of the sand (xalli) that makes up the hillock may substantiate Rémi Siméon's suggestion that Xaltilolco was the original name for the city. See: Tetlacuilolli. Interestingly, the glyph for Tlatelolco in the Codex Telleriano-Rememsis, folio 33 verso, takes the shape of a tepetl), but it is also colored purple. The texturing here, in lieu of dots for sand, are "U" shapes that are reminiscent of the texturing of tlalli. See: Gordon Whittaker, Deciphering Aztec Hieroglyphs (2021), 25, figure 1.8.b.

Added Analysis, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Gloss Image: 
Gloss Diplomatic Transcription: 

tlatilulco. puo

Gloss Normalization: 

Tlatelolco, pueblo

Gloss Analysis, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Source Manuscript: 
Mendoza/Mendocino, Codex (Mdz)
Date of Manuscript: 

c. 1541, or by 1553 at the latest

Creator's Location (and place coverage): 

Mexico City

Semantic Categories: 
place name
Syntax: 
noun(s)
Writing Features: 
simplex or element as logogram
Cultural Content & Iconography: 
Landscape Features
Names (places)
Socio-Political Units, Cities, Towns, Neighborhoods
Cultural Content, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Shapes and Perspectives: 
circle (half)
circle, circular or rounded
dotted, granular, textured
Keywords: 

hillocks, mounds, mogotes, cerros, pyramids, montículos, pirámides, nombres de lugares

Museum & Rare Book Comparisons: 
Museum/Rare Book Notes: 

This glyph is painted on a sidewalk that runs through the archaeological site at Tlateloco. This is an example of the contemporary interest in Nahuatl hieroglyphs and the effort to educate the public. Photo by S. Wood, 2 May 2025.

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

tlatel(li), large mound, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/tlatelli
tlatil(li), large mound, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/tlatilli
-co (locative suffix), https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/co

Image Source: 

Codex Mendoza, folio 6 recto, https://digital.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/objects/2fea788e-2aa2-4f08-b6d9-648c00..., image 22, of 188.

Image Source, Rights: 

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).