Coatepec (Azca12)

Coatepec (Azca12)
Compound Hieroglyph

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description: 

This is a multicolored detail of a painting of the compound glyph for the place name, Coatepec ("Serpent Hill" or "Serpent Mountain." The compound shows a mountain with five rocky outcroppings around the edge, a white river swirling down from the upper half of the mountain and four serpents poking their heads and necks out from the perimeter. The mountain is a tan or light brown color, with the exception of the horizontal stripes at the base, which are red and yellow. These have some extra lines that make them look like labia or lips. The serpents are different colors: two white, one gray, and one brown.

Description, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Gloss or Text Image: 
Source Manuscript: 
Azcatitlan, Codex (Azca)
Date of Manuscript: 

post-1550, possibly from the early seventeenth century

Creator's Location (and place coverage): 

perhaps Tlatelolco, Mexico City

Semantic Categories: 
place name
Syntax: 
locative (not visual)
noun(s)
Writing Features: 
compound fully logographic
Cultural Content & Iconography: 
Animals: Snakes
Landscape Features
Names (places)
Socio-Political Units, Cities, Towns, Neighborhoods
Tongue Protruding/Noticeable
Weapons, Shields, Armor
Cultural Content, Credit: 

Jeff Haskett-Wood

Colors: 
brown
red
tan
yellow or golden
Shapes and Perspectives: 
frontal view
Parts (compounds or simplex + notation): 
2
Reading Order (Compounds or Simplex + Notation): 
inward (from outside in)
Keywords: 

cerro, cerros, montaña, montañas, agua, labios, serpientes, lenguas bífidas, nombres de lugares, topónimos, place names

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

coa(tl), snake, serpent, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/coatl
tepe(tl), hill, mountain, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/tepetl
-tepec, on the hill, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/tepec

Image Source: 

The Codex Azcatitlan is also known as the Histoire mexicaine, [Manuscrit] Mexicain 59–64. It is housed in the Bibliothèque Nationale de France, and hosted on line by the World Digital Library and the Library of Congress.
https://www.loc.gov/resource/gdcwdl.wdl_15280/?sp=12&st=image

Image Source, Rights: 

The Library of Congress is “unaware of any copyright or other restrictions in the World Digital Library Collection.” But please cite Bibliothèque Nationale de France and this Visual Lexicon of Aztec Hieroglyphs.

Historical Contextualizing Image: