Aztec script: Difference between revisions

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| type = Pictographic and logosyllabic

| languages = [[Nahuatl language|Nahuatl]]

| creator = The Nahua peoples

| time = Most extant manuscripts from the 16th century

| sisters = [[Mixtec writing|Mixtec]]

| direction = top-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===

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== Disappearance ==

Aztec script fell out of use due to colonial, ecclesiastical, and governmental authorities, with the help of the local inhabitants who were indoctrinated intoin Spanish culture. The evangelizers classified Aztec script as a creation of the devil and considered [[Syllabary|syllabic]] [[Ideogram|ideographic symbols]] as intangible characters. The Old Library of [[Texcoco de Mora|Texcoco]], which according to various contemporary sources, contained a larger literary, technical and historical collection than the Old Library of [[Tenochtitlan]], was destroyed by the colonial government under the orders of the religious [[Juan de Zumárraga]], who collected the Aztec documents to be incinerated.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Arbagi |first=Michael |title=The Catholic Church and the Preservation of Mesoamerican Archives: An Assessment |url=https://minds.wisconsin.edu/bitstream/handle/1793/72319/AI_Vol33_No2_MichaelArbagi1.pdf |access-date=March 7, 2024 |website=minds.wisconsin.edu}}</ref>

==See also==