temetztlalli (FCbk11f215v)

This three-element compound hieroglyph features the land (tlalli) where lead (temetztli) might be found. The term selected for this example comes from the text near the image in the Digital Florentine Codex. There is no gloss, per se. This example shows a circular, full moon (metztli) with a man’s face in profile looking left. One might expect this to be a phonetic indicator for the middle part of the term for lead, except that the text explains how lead was believed to derive from the moon (metztli). Below the moon is the element of a stone (tetl), which might provide the phonetic start to the name, but it also covers the semantic nature of the ore as being stone-like. This rock has a typical oval shape with a curving diagonal line across the middle. Finally, the rectangle with the classic features of the hieroglyph for land (tlalli), being C-shapes and dots that probably indicate cultivation (such as seeds and marks from a digging stick), involves a design that has survived from earlier times, even if tlalli glyphs might sometimes also have parceling with alternating colors. See tlalli (FCbk11f215v).