Epatlan (Mdz42r)

Epatlan (Mdz42r)
Compound Glyph

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description: 

This compound glyph for the place name Epatlan features a skunk (epatl) and a pair of front teeth (tlantli) that provides the phonetic "tlan" that is the locative suffix (meaning place of). The animal is shown in profile, facing to the viewer's right. It is crouching. Its coat is primarily gray-purple. Two black stripes run at an angle across the back, and the coat is rather spiky along the back and tail. The tail is long and full. The animal's front teeth are showing (in addition to the two front, white, human teeth with red gums below the animal). The animal's face has a small amount of white.

Description, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis: 

The gloss does show a final "n" on the locative suffix, so there is no indication of abundance in the language used (which -tla or -tlah would have indicated).

Added Analysis, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Gloss Image: 
Gloss Diplomatic Transcription: 

epatlan. puo

Gloss Normalization: 

Epatlan, pueblo

Gloss Analysis, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

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

c. 1541, but 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: 
Anatomy, human body parts
Animals, incl. Birds, Bugs, Insects, Reptiles, etc.
Names (places)
Socio-Political Units, Cities, Towns, Neighborhoods
Cultural Content, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Colors: 
black
gray
purple
red
white/neutral
Shapes and Perspectives: 
horizontal
spiky
striped
Parts (compounds or simplex + notation): 
2
Reading Order (Compounds or Simplex + Notation): 
downward
Keywords: 

skunks, zorrillos, teeth, dientes

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

epa(tl), skunk, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/epatl
-tlan (locative suffix), place, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/tlan

Karttunen’s Interpretation: 

"Skunk Place" [Frances Karttunen, unpublished manuscript, used here with her permission.]

Additional Scholars' Interpretations: 

"Where There Are Many Skunks" (Berdan and Anawalt, 1992, vol. 1, p. 187)

Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation: 

"El Lugar del Zorrillo"

Spanish Translation, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Image Source: 

Codex Mendoza, folio 42 recto, https://digital.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/objects/2fea788e-2aa2-4f08-b6d9-648c00..., image 94 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).

See Also: 

epatl (Mdz22r)

tlantli (Mdz38r)

tlantli (Mdz42r)