amoxtli (MH861v)

amoxtli (MH861v)
Iconography

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description: 

This is a black-line drawing of the simplex glyph for the iconographic example of rosary beads and depicts the frontal view of a book.

Description, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis: 

This book, combined with the rosary beads that appear in the contextualizing image, makes this an element of a compound hieroglyph, but because it is not glossed, we are labeling this an iconographic example. The compound calls forth other examples of cuicanime (singers) and teopan nemi (Nahua church people, often singers). So this may be a hymnal.

Added Analysis, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Source Manuscript: 
Huexotzinco, Matrícula de (MH)
Date of Manuscript: 

1560

Creator's Location (and place coverage): 

Huejotzingo, Puebla

Syntax: 
noun(s)
Writing Features: 
simplex or element as logogram
Cultural Content & Iconography: 
Paper
Religion (Indigenous Christianity)
Writing, Literacy
Cultural Content, Credit: 

Jeff Haskett-Wood

Colors: 
black & white drawing (no color)
Shapes and Perspectives: 
dotted, granular, textured
rectangular
Keywords: 

papeles, libros, religión

Museum/Rare Book/Realia Comparisons: 
Museum/Rare Book/Realia Notes: 

This is a detail of a mural painted in 2024 by artist Santiago Savi in the Roma Norte neighborhood of Mexico City. Another detail was a piece of paper and a pencil with the message, “Cuando hablamos nuestra lengua, dialogamos con la naturaleza” (When we speak our language, we dialogue with nature), yet another contemporary message encouraging multilingualism in Mexico. Photograph by Stephanie Wood, 1 February 2026.

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

amox(tli), a book, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/amoxtli

Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation: 

libro

Spanish Translation, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Image Source: 

Matrícula de Huexotzinco, folio 861v, World Digital Library, https://www.loc.gov/resource/gdcwdl.wdl_15282/?sp=795&st=image

Image Source, Rights: 

This manuscript is hosted by the Library of Congress and the World Digital Library; used here with the Creative Commons, “Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 License” (CC-BY-NC-SAq 3.0).

Historical Contextualizing Image: 
See Also: 

Amoxtli (MH778v)

Amatlacuilol (MH575r)

cuicanime (MH817v)

teopan nemi (MH816v)

teopan nemi (MH816v)

teopan libro (CST35)

tlacuilolli (FCbk11f216r)

amoxtli (FCbk6f168v)