Tlacotzintlanapan (RGTyM17)

Tlacotzintlanapan (RGTyM17)
Compound Hieroglyph

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description:

This is a drawing--partially painted--of the compound glyph for the place name Tlacotzintlanapan (perhaps "Sticks Below the River"). The sticks (tlacotl) that are part of the name consist of eight vertical lines close together. A spray of blue water, perhaps a river or a canal (apantli), shoots out to the left with three little streams. Below these two elements is a hill or mountain glyph (tepetl), but it does not have a phonetic role in the name. It may just be a visual, but silent, locative.

Description, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis:

A dropped "z" is presumed, but perhaps tlacotin- (and not tlacotzin-) is the real intention.

Added Analysis, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Gloss or Text Image:

Gloss/Text Diplomatic Transcription:

San pedro tlacon
tintlanapan-

Gloss/Text Normalization:

San Pedro Tlacotzintlanapan

Gloss/Text Analysis, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Source Manuscript:

Tistla y Muchitlan, RG Map of (RGTyM)

Date of Manuscript:

1582

Creator's Location (and place coverage):

Tzompanco (contemporary Zumpango del Río, Guerrero), with a connection to the Diocese of Tlaxcala, Tlaxcala

Semantic Categories:

place name

Writing Features:

compound fully logographic

Cultural Content & Iconography:

Landscape Features

Names (places)

Socio-Political Units, Cities, Towns, Neighborhoods

Water

Wood, wooden things

Cultural Content, Credit:

Jeff Haskett-Wood

Colors:

blue (turquoise)

white/neutral

Shapes and Perspectives:

circle(s) (small, often concentric)

frontal view

linear or multiple straight lines

Parts (compounds or simplex + notation):

Reading Order (Compounds or Simplex + Notation):

downward

right to left

Keywords:

sticks, palos, agua, water, hills, mountains, cerros, montañas, nombres de lugares, topónimos, pueblos, estancias

Glyph or Iconographic Image:

Relevant Nahuatl Dictionary Word(s):

tlaco(tl), sticks, center, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/tlacotl
tlaco, half, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/tlaco
tzintlan, beneath, below, at the foot of, https://nahuatl.wired
apan(tli), canal, ditch, or river, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/apantli

Additional Scholars' Interpretations:

"River Beneath the Sticks," Barbara E. Mundy, The Mapping of New Spain (1996, 147).

Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation:

Los Palos Debajo del Río

Spanish Translation, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Image Source:

The source of these hieroglyphs is a manuscript and map known collectively as the “Relación de Tistla y Muchitlan,” also known as the “Descripción de la Alcaldia Mayor de las Minas de Zumpango.” Apparently, these towns (today spelled Tixtla and Mochitlan) are in the modern-day state of Guerrero, but they fell under the religious jurisdiction of the Diocese of Tlaxcala. Thanks go to Octavio Márquez for his contribution of the glyph, gloss, and contextualizing images.

Image Source, Rights:

The original manuscript is hosted on line as part of the Benson Latin American Collection, The General Libraries, University of Texas at Austin, https://collections.lib.utexas.edu/catalog/utblac:fbc92b3e-bb28-4258-975.... It is open-access.

Historical Contextualizing Image: