Tezcatepec (Mdz27r)

Tezcatepec (Mdz27r)
Compound Glyph

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description:

This compound glyph for the place name Tetzcatepec involves a mirror (tezcatl) and a hill or mountain (tepetl). The mirror is a red circle with a large black area in its center. Around the red perimeter are four evenly placed down feather balls. The hill or mountain is the usual two-tone green bell shape, with curling rocky outcroppings on the slopes and horizontal red and yellow lines at the base. The locative suffix (-c) (as given in the gloss) is not shown visually, but it combines with -tepe- to form -tepec, a visual locative suffix meaning "on the hill" or "on the mountain."

Description, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis:

Some mirrors have circles (not down feathers) around the perimeter, possibly suggesting a shimmer, shine, or vibrance. It remains to be investigated why this mirror has feathers. Suggestions are welcomed.

Added Analysis, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Gloss Image:

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:

locative (visual not silent)

noun(s)

Cultural Content & Iconography:

Feathers

Landscape Features

Names (places)

Socio-Political Units, Cities, Towns, Neighborhoods

Cultural Content, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Colors:

Shapes and Perspectives:

bell-shaped (upright)

circle, circular or rounded

horizontal

quincunx or quatrefoil

Parts (compounds or simplex + notation):

Reading Order (Compounds or Simplex + Notation):

downward

Keywords:

mountains, hills, espejos, montañas, cerros

Glyph or Iconographic Image:

Relevant Nahuatl Dictionary Word(s):

tezca(tl), mirror, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/tetzcatl
tepe(tl), hill or mountain, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/tepetl
-tepec, on the hill or mountain, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/tepec
-c (locative suffix), at or on, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/c

Image Source:

Codex Mendoza, folio 27 recto, https://digital.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/objects/2fea788e-2aa2-4f08-b6d9-648c00..., image 64 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).