amoyotl (FCbk11f68v)

amoyotl (FCbk11f68v)
Iconography

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description:

This iconographic example, featuring a shore or brine fly (amoyotl), is included in this digital collection for the purpose of making comparisons with related hieroglyphs. The term selected for this example comes from the text near the image in the Digital Florentine Codex. There is no gloss, per se. This example shows a group of six shore flies in profile, facing the viewer’s left. They are flying over water that has wavy lines of current (movement). The contextualizing image shows that there are a total of ten of these flies in the original scene. The water location is significant, as these are not the mosquitos that are found on land. The term amoyotl literally says water mosquitos or water flies, but mosquitos do not skate across water. The text explains that these flies skim the surface of the water. According to the text, they were caught for eating and for fishing. Having these insects set in a landscape does suggest some European artistic influence.

Description, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis:

This digital collection includes no examples of the amoyotl as of now (October 2025). Moyotl (a mosquito), however, was a popular personal name for men, as shown in the Matrícula de Huexotzinco. The degree of detail that tlacuilos have given to insects is considerable in some cases. Two of the moyotl examples emphasize the proboscis, which penetrates human skin.

Added Analysis, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Gloss or Text Image:

Gloss/Text Diplomatic Transcription:

Amoiotl

Gloss/Text Normalization:

amoyotl

Gloss/Text Analysis, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Source Manuscript:

Florentine/Florentinus, Codex (FC)

Date of Manuscript:

1577

Creator's Location (and place coverage):

Mexico City

Syntax:

noun(s)

visual movement

Cultural Content & Iconography:

Animals: Insects & Bugs

Food, Eating, Cooking

Marine, Maritime, Lacustrine

Movement

Water

Cultural Content, Credit:

Jeff Haskett-Wood

Colors:

brown

gray

tan

Shapes and Perspectives:

facing left

profile view

wavy

Other Cultural Influences:

Spanish/European

Keywords:

moscas, mosquillas, mosquitos, patinar sobre agua, comida, lago, lagos

Glyph or Iconographic Image:

Relevant Nahuatl Dictionary Word(s):

amoyo(tl), a shore fly or a brine fly, or a water skater, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/amoyotl
moyo(tl), a mosquito, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/moyotl

Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation:

la mosca patinadora, o la mosca de salmuera

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 11: Earthly Things", fol. 68v, Getty Research Institute, 2023. https://florentinecodex.getty.edu/en/book/11/folio/68v/images/0 Accessed 16 October 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.”

Historical Contextualizing Image: