mapachin (Mdz13v)

mapachin (Mdz13v)
Element from a Compound

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description: 

This element for thief (mapachin) has been carved from the compound sign for the place name, Mapachtepec. It features a (left) hand (maitl) grabbing something white and spiky.

Description, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis: 

The hand ("ma") provides a phonetic value, but the grabbing of something suggests the idea of stealing. To provide phonetic support for the interpretation of mapach- (thief), the material being grabbed is apparently chaff, hay, weeds or the like [pachtli, another phonetic reinforcement.

Added 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: 
phonetic dimensions
Syntax: 
noun(s)
Cultural Content & Iconography: 
Anatomy, human body parts
Crime, Punishment
Plants, Flora
Cultural Content, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Colors: 
orange/terracotta
white/neutral
Shapes and Perspectives: 
spiky
Keywords: 

thieves, ladrones, mistletoe, hay, chaff or refuse of plants, muérdago, heno, paja o basura de plantas

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

mapach(in), raccoon and, by extension, thief, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/mapachin
pach(tli), hay or chaff, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/pachtli
ma(itl), hand or arm, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/maitl

Whittaker's Transliteration: 

Mexico City

Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation: 

el mapache, o el ladrón

Spanish Translation, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Image Source: 

Codex Mendoza, folio 13 verso, https://digital.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/objects/2fea788e-2aa2-4f08-b6d9-648c00..., image 37 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: 

Mapachtepec (Mdz13v)

Mapachtepec (Mdz47r)