amoxtli (Mxnus19)

This example is meant to show how Nahuas drew books. Typically, they are open, with pages on right and left. We might assume this book would have been called an amoxtli, but the detail is not glossed as such. It could also have been referred to as an amatlacuilolli (see below), a piece of writing on paper. Finally it could be called a libro (also rendered as lipro and libor), using a loan from Spanish, as found in copious examples included in our Online Nahuatl Dictionary.

More than 3K entries into this database, we have yet to find a glyph that is glossed amoxtli. Terms with the cuil root, however, are ubiquitous in association with writing and painting. Icuiloa meant to write or paint (and, in one example in this database, to speak). Tlacuilo was one who wrote or painted. Tlacuilolli refers to a piece of writing or a painting, and amatlacuilolli adds "paper" to the writing or painting.