tzintli (Mdz42r)
This glyphic element for tzintli (buttocks) has been carved from the compound sign for the place name, Coatzinco. In this example, we are including it as a logogram even though in the compound it had a phonetic role. This detail is the lower half of a man's body, naked except for a waistband of a white loincloth, has the waist at the top, the knees pointed up. The legs are on our right. The skin color is terracotta. The upright body is shown in profile, facing to the viewer's right.
Stephanie Wood
As with all—or at least the vast majority—of examples of this glyph, the meaning "buttocks" has nothing to do with the meaning of the glyphs, although it may have a metaphorical value of "lower." When modifying a place name, as Frances Karttunen suggests, the meaning of "tzin" is new, little, or lower. It can also refer to something revered, for instance, when combined with something having the element "teo" (from teotl, divine force).
Stephanie Wood
c. 1541, but by 1553 at the latest
Stephanie Wood
butts, buttocks, rear end, little, lower, buttocks, bottom, nalgas, trasero
tzin(tli), buttocks, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/tzintli
-tzin, new, little, lower, or reverential, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/tzin
buttocks
Stephanie Wood
Codex Mendoza, folio 42 recto, https://digital.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/objects/2fea788e-2aa2-4f08-b6d9-648c00..., image 94 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).
