mizquitl (Mdz2v)
This simplex glyph for the place name Mizquic derives from the plant or tree, mizquitl), to which this entry is devoted. The tree has a red and white vertically striped trunk, red roots, red thorns on the trunk, a leader and two branches with two-toned green foliage and, protruding from the foliage, red and yellow seed pods.
Stephanie Wood
The mizquitl tree is called mesquite in Spanish today. The term mezquite (also spelled mesquite) has also entered English from the Spanish. It is a small leguminous tree from the genus Prosopis, and it has straight, robust spines. The red color of the spines here may suggest that they were used for bloodletting in auto-sacrifice.
Stephanie Wood
Stephanie Wood
c. 1541, but by 1553 at the latest
Stephanie Wood
mizqui(tl), mesquite tree or bush, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/mizquitl
mezquite tree
el mesquite
Stephanie Wood
Codex Mendoza, folio 2 verso, https://digital.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/objects/2fea788e-2aa2-4f08-b6d9-648c00..., image 15 of 188.
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).