Tlaltizapan (Mdz52r)

Tlaltizapan (Mdz52r)
Compound Glyph

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description: 

This compound glyph for the place name Tlaltizapan contains two principal features, a mound of dots representing chalk (tizatl) and, above that, a footprint providing the phonetic value of the locative suffix (-pan), meaning in or on, which derives here from the verb pano. The foot is facing the direction of the viewer's right. Humorously, the footprint has six toes. The mound has a bell shape somewhat reminiscent of tepetl (hill, mountain) or altepetl (town).

Description, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis: 

The hill is a landscape feature and may provide a semantic complement that could point to the earth (tlalli). If not, the starting Tlal- of this place name is not shown visually or accounted for phonetically.

Footprint glyphs have a wide range of translations. In this collection, so far, we can attest to yauh, xo, pano, -pan, paina, temo, nemi, quetza, otli, iyaquic hualiloti, huallauh, tetepotztoca, totoco, -tihui, and the vowel "o." Other research (Herrera et al, 2005, 64) points to additional terms, including: choloa, tlaloa, totoyoa, eco, aci, quiza, maxalihui, centlacxitl, and xocpalli.

Added Analysis, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Gloss Image: 
Gloss Diplomatic Transcription: 

tlaltiçapā.puo

Gloss Normalization: 

Tlaltizapan, pueblo

Gloss Analysis, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Source Manuscript: 
Date of Manuscript: 

c. 1541, or by 1553 at the latest

Creator's Location (and place coverage): 

Mexico City

Semantic Categories: 
Syntax: 
Cultural Content, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Parts (compounds or simplex + notation): 
Reading Order (Compounds or Simplex + Notation): 
Keywords: 

tiza, cruzar, paisaje, huella, huellas, footprint, footprints

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

Codex Mendoza, folio 52 recto, https://digital.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/objects/2fea788e-2aa2-4f08-b6d9-648c00..., image 114 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).