i 



a from ail, water te from (e(£, stone co/ from colli, house (epe from tepetl, mountain 



L_r 



ru 



(/acA from tlachtli, ball 



court pon from pantli, banner 



• 



i(z from itzili, obsidian tlan from tlantli, teeth 



miz from miztli, cloud 



apon from apantli, canal 



rEI riTI 



quiauh from quiauh- 

 uitl, rain 



quauh from guoui^, tree 



Iffl <°> <«>! 



tenan from tenamitl, wall 



tfa from rtaHf, ground or mi from 

 miMi, cultivated ground 



petla from petfaf?, matting 



The figures on this page give certain elements that enter into many 

 words. The phonetic value is in the root of the name and this root is usually 

 obtained by cutting off the endings tl, li, Hi or in. In each case the phonetic 

 symbol is a conventionalized picture of the original word. 



Examples are also figured of compounds of two or more of these pictures 

 with a greater or less degree of running together of details. One hieroglyph 

 translated Ate pec, is composed of a (water) and tepc (mountain). The 

 ending c or co which means in, on or by, is unrepresented by a phonetic 

 element in this and most other words where it occurs. Similarly Caltepec 

 is composed of the two pictures, cal (house) and tepe (mountain). Ilztepec 

 and Pantepcc are made in the same manner with substitution for the first 

 syllable of itz (obsidian) and pan (flag). Actually the last example means 

 "on top of the mountain" rather than "flag mountain," the pun for once 

 playing a useful part. 



The next three place names show the constant element tlan. As a 

 matter of fact this syllable is a postposition meaning near, under or between, 

 but it is regularly pictured by two conventionalized teeth. Itztlan, Mixtlan, 

 and Pctlatlan present the simplest sort of combination picture elements. 



33 



