atl (Mdz12r)
This element for water (atl) has been carved from the compound glyph for the place name, Atezcahuacan. It is a larger circle with a smaller concentric circle. The middle space was occupied by a mirror (tezcatl) in the original compound. But we removed that to isolate the water component. This water is painted turquoise. It has both rounded and rectangular ("step-fret") swirls.
Stephanie Wood
The nature of the water in this glyph is replicated somewhat in other glyphs in this collection, such as where we see the water swirling in its flow (below, right). The combination of rounded swirls and rectangular swirls here is reminiscent of the water at the top and center of the map made for the Relación Geográfica of Cholula (1581). The map for Guaxtepec (1580) also has a few of both types of swirls. The potential significance of the swirling water is brought home by the name glyph for Tetzauh (omen), which seems to suggest that whirlpools (and perhaps whirlwinds, and the like) create a vortex that connects life on earth with a spiritual realm. See below.
Stephanie Wood
c. 1541, but by 1553 at the latest
Stephanie Wood
water, bodies of water, pools, swirling, whirlpools,
a(tl), water, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/atl
xicalcoliuhqui, step-fret coil, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/xicalcoliuhqui
water
el agua
Stephanie Wood
Codex Mendoza, folio 12 recto, https://digital.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/objects/2fea788e-2aa2-4f08-b6d9-648c00..., image 34 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).
