Ahuitzotl (FCbk8f2r)

Ahuitzotl (FCbk8f2r)
Compound Glyph

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description: 

This painted compound glyph for the personal name Ahuitzotl, a ruler of Tenochtitlan, shows a brown dog-like animal in profile, facing the viewer’s right. Its claws are visible. Its tail is up with a slight curl to it. Below the animal are four short streams of water showing lines of current and, at the lower tips, either a white droplet or shell (alternating). The water is painted a turquoise blue.

Description, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis: 

In the pre-contact carving of the Ahuitzotl glyph in the Museo Nacional de Antropología e Historia in Mexico City, water again swirls around the animal, but not specifically around the tail. Also, the tail is coiled at the bottom of the animal, and a human hand appears under the coil. It was believed that this hand, being at the end of a long tail, could reach up from under the lake waters and grab people, pulling them down and drowning them. So, the ahuitzotl was a formidable, legendary creature.

Added Analysis, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Gloss Image: 
Gloss Diplomatic Transcription: 

Avitzotl

Gloss Normalization: 

Ahuitzotl

Gloss Analysis, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Source Manuscript: 
Florentine/Florentinus, Codex (FC)
Date of Manuscript: 

1577

Creator's Location (and place coverage): 

Mexico City

Semantic Categories: 
personal name
phonetic dimensions
Syntax: 
noun(s)
Writing Features: 
compound of phonogram(s) & logogram(s)
Cultural Content & Iconography: 
Animals: Misc.
Gender (male)
Names (personal and/or theonym)
Politics, Power, Governance
Water
Cultural Content, Credit: 

Jeff Haskett-Wood

Colors: 
blue (turquoise)
brown
white/neutral
Shapes and Perspectives: 
facing right
profile view
Parts (compounds or simplex + notation): 
2
Reading Order (Compounds or Simplex + Notation): 
upward
Keywords: 

animals, animales, water, agua, nombres, emperador, emperadores, tlahtoani, tlatoani, tlahtohqueh, tlatoque, tecuhtli, tecutli, teuctli, nombres famosos, personas famosas, nombres de hombres

Glyph or Iconographic Image: 
Relevant Nahuatl Dictionary Word(s): 

a(tl), water, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/atl
ahuitzo(tl), water dog, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/ahuitzotl
huitz(tl), thorns, spines, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/huitztli
-yo(tl), -yo(tl)-, having that characteristic or quality/inalienable possession, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/yotl

Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation: 

Animal Acuático Marsupial (nombre de un emperador)

Spanish Translation, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Image Source: 

Available at Digital Florentine Codex/Códice Florentino Digital, edited by Kim N. Richter and Alicia Maria Houtrouw, "Book 8: Kings and Lords", fol. 2r, Getty Research Institute, 2023. https://florentinecodex.getty.edu/en/book/8/folio/2r/images/0. Accessed 20 June 2025.

Image Source, Rights: 

Images of the digitized Florentine Codex are made available under the following Creative Commons license: CC BY-NC-ND (Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 4.0 International). For print-publication quality photos, please contact the Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana ([email protected]). The Library of Congress has also published this manuscript, using the images of the World Digital Library copy. “The Library of Congress is unaware of any copyright or other restrictions in the World Digital Library Collection. Absent any such restrictions, these materials are free to use and reuse.”

Orthography: 
intrusive comma
Historical Contextualizing Image: 
See Also: 

Ahuitzotl (TR39r)