atotonilli (Mdz30r)

atotonilli (Mdz30r)
Simplex Glyph

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description: 

This simplex glyph duplicates the place name, Atotonilco, adding visual vocabulary to the collection, doubling here as the glyph for atotonilli (hot water). To express the concept of hot water, the glyph includes a ceramic pot (terracotta-colored) with a black bottom. It sits on two stones (with the typical wavy lines of purple and orange or terracotta coloring), and water spills over the edges of the top of the pot. The water is a turquoise blue. The -co locative suffix, intentionally or not, can be conveyed by the ceramic pot (comitl).

Description, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis: 

This simplex glyph could be considered a compound, given that it contains elements that are also glyphic in and of themselves--the stones (tetl), the water (atl), and the pot (comitl), with all their classic glyph-like characteristics (droplets and shells on the water and wavy lines on the stones). Atotonilco is likely a place with hot springs or thermal waters, having nothing to do with cooking, even if that visual is meant to bring forth the phonetic reading of hot water.

Added Analysis, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Gloss 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

Syntax: 
noun(s)
Writing Features: 
simplex or element as logogram
Cultural Content & Iconography: 
Ceramics, Pottery
Containers, Dishes, Eating Utensils
Shells
Stones, Rocks, Lapidary, Masonry
Water
Cultural Content, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Colors: 
blue (turquoise)
brown
orange/terracotta
purple (light)/lavender
white/neutral
Shapes and Perspectives: 
circle(s) (small, often concentric)
Keywords: 

water, shells

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

atotonil(li), hot water, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/atotonilli
totonil(ia), to heat something, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/totonilia
a(tl), water, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/atl

Additional Scholars' Interpretations: 

hot water

Spanish Translation, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Image Source: 

Codex Mendoza, folio 30 recto, https://digital.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/objects/2fea788e-2aa2-4f08-b6d9-648c00..., image 70 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).