ayecotli (FCbk11f250r)

ayecotli (FCbk11f250r)
Iconography

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description:

This iconographic example, featuring a black and white sketch of a plant that produces large black beans (ayecotli, or ayecohtli, with the glottal stop), 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 leafy plant with visible roots and two large pea pods. On the ground in the lower right corner of the landscape setting (a European artistic technique) there is a group of five large black beans.

Description, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis:

As with most hieroglyphs of black beans, the small white spot is also clearly visible in the iconography of the ayecotli. This bean plant looks much like other bean plants, which appear on folio 250r–251v.

Added Analysis, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Gloss or Text Image:

Gloss/Text Diplomatic Transcription:

Aiecotli

Gloss/Text Normalization:

ayecotli

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)

Cultural Content & Iconography:

Food, Eating, Cooking

Landscape Features

Plants, Flora

Cultural Content, Credit:

Jeff Haskett-Wood

Colors:

black & white drawing (no color)

Shapes and Perspectives:

circle(s) (small, often concentric)

frontal view

leaf, marquise, pointed oval

roots are visible

shading and parallel line hatching

three-dimensionality

Other Cultural Influences:

Spanish/European

Keywords:

frijoles, negros, habas, comida, plantas

Glyph or Iconographic Image:

Relevant Nahuatl Dictionary Word(s):

ayeco(tli), large black beans, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/ayecotli

Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation:

el frijol negro grande

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. 250r, Getty Research Institute, 2023. https://florentinecodex.getty.edu/en/book/11/folio/250r/images/0 Accessed 16 November 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: