Aztec script: Difference between revisions

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| time = Most extant manuscripts from the 16th century

| sisters = [[Mixtec writing|Mixtec]]

| direction = Anywheretop-to bottom, left-to right

| sample = Aztecwriting.jpg

| imagesize = 97px

}}

The '''Aztec''' or '''Nahuatl script''' is a [[pre-Columbian]] [[writing system]] that combines [[ideograph]]ic writing with [[Nahuatl]] specific phonetic logograms and syllabic signs<ref name="Lacadena">{{cite web|last=Lacadena|first=Alfonso|title=Regional Scribal Traditions: Methodological Implications for the Decipherment of Nahuatl Writing|url=http://www.mesoweb.com/pari/publications/journal/804/PARI0804.pdf}}</ref> which was used in central [[Mexico]] by the [[Nahua people]] in the Epiclassic and [[Mesoamerican chronology|Post-classic]] periods.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Escamilla |first=Marlon V. |last2=Fowler |first2=William R. |title=Paisajes rituales nahua-pipiles del postclásico en la Costa del Bálsamo, El Salvador |url=http://portal.amelica.org/ameli/jatsRepo/366/3661944008/html/index.html |journal=Entorno |language=es |issue=53 |pages=67–75}}</ref> It was originally thought that its use was reserved for elites,; however, the topographical codices and early colonial catechisms, recently deciphered, were used by ''tlacuilos'' (scribes),<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Corral |first=Aurelio López |date=2011 |title=Los glifos de suelo en códices acolhua de la Colonia temprana: un reanálisis de su significado |url=https://desacatos.ciesas.edu.mx/index.php/Desacatos/article/view/293 |journal=Desacatos. Revista de Ciencias Sociales |language=es |issue=37 |pages=145–162 |doi=10.29340/37.293 |issn=2448-5144|doi-access=free }}</ref> ''macehuallis'' (peasants), and pochtecas''[[pochteca]]s'' (merchants).<ref>{{Cite web |title=Tribute Roll. |url=https://www.loc.gov/item/2021667610/ |access-date=2024-06-05 |website=Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. 20540 USA}}</ref>

== Origin==

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===Numerals===

The Aztec numerical system was [[vigesimal]] as was the [[Maya numerals|Mayan numerical system]]. They indicated quantities up to twenty by the requisite number of dots. A flag was used to indicate twenty, repeating it for quantities up to four hundred, while a sign like a fir tree, meaning numerous as hairs, signified four hundred. The next unit, eight thousand, was indicated by an incense bag, which referred to the almost innumerable contents of a sack of cacao beans.<ref>{{cite book |author=Vaillant, George C. |year=1941 |title=Aztecs of Mexico |pages=206–209}}</ref>

===Historical===