caja cuahuitl (CST18)

caja cuahuitl (CST18)
Simplex Glyph

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description: 

This painting of the simplex glyph for the term caja cuahuitl (wooden chest) shows a frontal view of just that. The chest is brown with stair-step feet and a gray metal lock. Such chests usually had a lock with three keys, and the top members of the Indigenous cabildo (town council) would hold the keys and have to come together to open the chest, Tribute funds were often stored in these chests.

Description, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis: 

For more on the Codex Sierra, see Kevin Terraciano’s study (2021).

Added Analysis, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Gloss Image: 
Gloss Diplomatic Transcription: 

ce caxa quavitl

Gloss Normalization: 

ce caja cuahuitl

Gloss Analysis, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Source Manuscript: 
Sierra/Texupan, Codex (CST)
Date of Manuscript: 

1550–1564

Creator's Location (and place coverage): 

Santa Catalina Texupan, Mixteca Alta, Oaxaca

Syntax: 
noun(s)
Writing Features: 
simplex or element as logogram
Cultural Content & Iconography: 
Furniture
Metals, Minerals, Mining
Wood, wooden things
Cultural Content, Credit: 

Jeff Haskett-Wood

Colors: 
gray
pink
red
Shapes and Perspectives: 
frontal view
rectangular
Other Cultural Influences: 
Mixtec
Spanish/European
Keywords: 

cajas, cofres, baúles, cerraduras, madera

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

caja, chest (a Spanish loanword that entered Nahuatl as caja or caxa), https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/caja
cuahui(tl), wooden, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/cuahuitl-1

Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation: 

caja de madera

Spanish Translation, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Image Source: 

Códice Sierra-Texupan, plate 18, page dated 1558. Origin: Santa Catalina Texupan, Mixteca Alta, State of Oaxaca. Kevin Terraciano has published an outstanding study of this manuscript (Codex Sierra, 2021), and in his book he refers to alphabetic and “pictorial” writing, not hieroglyphic writing. We are still counting some of the imagery from this source as hieroglyphic writing, but we are also including examples of “iconography” where the images verge on European style illustrations or scenes showing activities. We have this iconography category so that such images can be fruitfully compared with hieroglyphs. Hieroglyphic writing was evolving as a result of the influence of European illustrations, and even alphabetic writing impacted it.
https://bidilaf.buap.mx/objeto.xql?id=48281&busqueda=Texupan&action=search

Image Source, Rights: 

The Biblioteca Digital Lafragua of the Biblioteca Histórica José María Lafragua in Puebla, Mexico, publishes this Códice Sierra-Texupan, 1550–1564 (62pp., 30.7 x 21.8 cm.), referring to it as being in the “Public Domain.” This image is published here under a Creative Commons license, asking that you cite the Biblioteca Digital Lafragua and this Visual Lexicon of Aztec Hieroglyphs.

Orthography: 
"q" for c
"v" for u, uh, or hu
"x" for j
Historical Contextualizing Image: