Atl Ihuetziyan (LTlaxUT2b)

Atl Ihuetziyan (LTlaxUT2b)
Compound Hieroglyph

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description:

This compound Nahuatl hieroglyph has two elements: water (atl) and rocks over which the water flows and falls downward (involving the verb, huetzi), referring to Atl Ihuetziyan (perhaps “Where the Water Normally Falls”). The locative suffix -yan is not shown visually, but it refers to a place where something is done habitually or customarily. In this case, it refers to the continuous water falling.

Description, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis:

This is the first waterfall, per se, to enter this digital collection (as of April 2026), but we do have some other examples where water is an important factor in shaping the landscapes. See below.

Added Analysis, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Gloss or Text Image:

Gloss/Text Diplomatic Transcription:

Atl ivetz yā

Gloss/Text Normalization:

Atl Ihuetziyan

Gloss/Text Analysis, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Source Manuscript:

Tlaxcala, Lienzo de (LTlax)

Date of Manuscript:

1540s

Creator's Location (and place coverage):

Tlaxcala and other parts of early Mexico

Semantic Categories:

place name

Syntax:

noun(s)

possessive pronoun (no-, to-, i-, etc.)

Writing Features:

compound fully logographic

Cultural Content & Iconography:

Names (places)

Cultural Content, Credit:

Jeff Haskett-Wood

Colors:

Parts (compounds or simplex + notation):

Reading Order (Compounds or Simplex + Notation):

downward

Keywords:

cascada, cascadas, normalmente, habitualmente, por lo general, acantilado, nombres de lugares, topónimos

Glyph or Iconographic Image:

Relevant Nahuatl Dictionary Word(s):

atlauh(tli), deep ravine or gorge, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/atlauhtli

Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation:

Donde el Agua Cae Regularmente

Spanish Translation, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Image Source:

Benson Latin American Collection, LLILAS Benson Latin American Studies and Collections, The University of Texas at Austin https://collections.lib.utexas.edu/catalog/utblac:3c754fd0-b27f-4af7-9cf...

Image Source, Rights:

The Benson Library has kindly provided the digital images and permission to put them into our Mapas Project in 2015. Use and reproduction from this project: https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/, but please also cite the Visual Lexicon of Aztec Hieroglyphs, ed. Stephanie Wood, (Eugene, Ore.: Wired Humanities Projects, ©2020-present). Version 1.0.

Orthography:

"v" for u, uh, or hu

Historical Contextualizing Image: