Azcapotzalco (Osu34v)

Azcapotzalco (Osu34v)
Compound Hieroglyph

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description:

This painted compound Nahuatl hieroglyph represents the place name Azcapotzalco (perhaps "At the Ant Hill"). It shows a bird's eye view of an ant (azcatl) that has a head and a two-part body, five visible legs, and something that looks like little horns or perhaps antennae on its head. The head is at the top of what is presumably a circular mound (potzalli) that is painted grey and pink. The mound is rimmed with a circle of thirteen small round circles (presumably stones) and small black dots (presumably sand).

Description, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis:

The Azcapotzalco compound hieroglyph in the Codex Mendoza makes the perimeter stones into small tetl (stone) signs. In that one, the ant is shown in profile. But in the hieroglyph for the Azcapotzalca people (in the Codex Azcatitlan) the ant is shown in a bird's eye view.

Added Analysis, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Gloss or Text Image:

Gloss/Text Diplomatic Transcription:

Azcapotzalco

Gloss/Text Analysis, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Source Manuscript:

Osuna, Codex (Osu)

Date of Manuscript:

1551–1565

Creator's Location (and place coverage):

Mexico City

Semantic Categories:

place name

Syntax:

noun(s)

Writing Features:

compound fully logographic

Cultural Content & Iconography:

Animals: Insects/Bugs

Names (places)

Cultural Content, Credit:

Jeff Haskett-Wood

Colors:

gray

pink

red

Shapes and Perspectives:

circle, circular or rounded

dotted, granular, textured

Parts (compounds or simplex + notation):

Reading Order (Compounds or Simplex + Notation):

outward (from inside out)

Keywords:

nombres de lugares, topónimos, piedras, arena, hormiga, hormigas

Glyph or Iconographic Image:

Relevant Nahuatl Dictionary Word(s):

azca(tl), ant, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/azcatl
potzal(li), mound, hill), https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/potzalli
-co (locative suffix), https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/co
azcapotlzalco, a place name, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/azcapotzalco

Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation:

"En el Hormiguero"

Spanish Translation, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Image Source:

Library of Congress Online Catalog and the World Digital Library, Osuna Codex, or Painting of the Governor, Mayors, and Rulers of Mexico, https://www.loc.gov/resource/gdcwdl.wdl_07324/. The original is located in the Biblioteca Nacional de España.

Image Source, Rights:

"The Library of Congress is unaware of any copyright or other restrictions in the World Digital Library Collection. Absent any such restrictions, these materials are free to use and reuse." But please cite the Biblioteca Nacional de España and this Visual Lexicon of Aztec Hieroglyphs if you use any of these images here or refer to the content on this page, providing the URL

Historical Contextualizing Image: