xochitl (Mdz44r)

xochitl (Mdz44r)
Element from a Compound

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description: 

This element for flower (xochitl) was carved from the compound glyph for Macuilxochic. It is an upright flower in multiple colors. The root and the central part of the flower are red. A circular band at the base of the flower, perhaps the ovary, is turquoise, with a red-colored concentric circle, perhaps the ovule. Above that are the style, stigma, and two anthers in yellow. Surrounding these yellow parts are perhaps the sepals, colored green.

Description, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis: 

This sign is especially detailed and colorful when compared to a great many xochitl glyphs. The attention to detail and color attest to the high value placed on flowers. The two small circles at the top of this flower, the leaves, and the roots are all hallmarks that will recur with some frequency, but, naturally, this element can also be abbreviated in some compound glyphs (e.g. the example, below, from 23 recto), and it will absorb European depictions of flowers (emphasizing stem, leaves, and largely round flowers) over time. Prior to contact, flowers appeared on temples and palaces, they were cultivated in gardens (showing horticultural expertise), they were associated with a ritualized warfare, worn as necklaces and garlands, and, for these reasons and more, they were the subject of poetry. Mexicolore has a short article about the Nahuas' fondness for flowers.

In some flowers, such as this one, the anthers are rather pronounced. The anthers are the flower parts that produce and provide the pollen, which has the reproductive capacity that has been compared in Western cultures to semen.

Added Analysis, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Source Manuscript: 
Date of Manuscript: 

c. 1541, or by 1553 at the latest

Creator's Location (and place coverage): 

Mexico City

Syntax: 
Cultural Content, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

SVG of Glyph: 
SVG Image, Credit: 

Crystal Boulton-Scott made the SVG.

Keywords: 

flowers, blooms, petals, roots, flores, pétalos, raíces

Glyph or Iconographic Image: 
Relevant Nahuatl Dictionary Word(s): 
Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation: 

la flor

Spanish Translation, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Image Source: 

Codex Mendoza, folio 44 recto, https://digital.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/objects/2fea788e-2aa2-4f08-b6d9-648c00..., image 98 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).