tzintli (Mdz40r)
This glyphic element for rear end or buttocks (tzinttli) has been carved from the compound sign for the place name, Coatzinco. In that compound it was a phonogram, but here we are including it as a logogram. It is the lower half of a man's body (indicated by the white belt of the loincloth). He is sitting upright, in profile, facing toward the viewer's right. His skin is terracotta in color.
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, bottom, nalgas, trasero
tzin(tli), buttocks, rear end, 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 40 recto, https://digital.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/objects/2fea788e-2aa2-4f08-b6d9-648c00..., image 90 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).
