Mexicolore logoMexicolore name

Article suitable for Top Juniors and above

Find out more

The ancient source of vanilla ice cream?

19th Feb 2024

The ancient source of vanilla ice cream?

The toponym of Xochichiu(h)can looks like vanilla ice cream

At first glance this tiny but splendid glyph from the Codex Mendoza looks remarkably like a hand holding a cone with vanilla ice cream! Instead, it’s the toponym (place sign) of a town in the mainly Otomí province of Axocopan, NW of Tenochtitlan, conquered by the forces of the Aztec-led Triple Alliance under emperor Motecuhzoma I (1440-1468). Its name in Nahuatl is Xochichiuhca(n), which means ‘Place Where Flowers Are Cultivated’... (Compiled by Ian Mursell/Mexicolore)

The Nahuatl place name is made up of two main elements:-
xochitl meaning ‘flower’, and
chiua, to make.
The final suffix -can indicates place.

Image scanned from our own copy of the James Cooper Clark facsimile edition of the Codex Mendoza, London, 1938.

Comments (0)