Calli (Verg23r)

Calli (Verg23r)
Compound Glyph

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description: 

This compound Nahuatl hieroglyph is a black-line drawing of the personal name Calli (“House” or “Building”), attested here as a man’s name. It has two elements. The most crucial is the sign for house in profile, with the opening facing right. Interestingly, this calli seems constructed of adobe (xamitl) bricks or possibly rectangular stones. The other element, water (atl), is a phonetic complement that is intended to emphasize that the vowel sound in this name is an “a.” It is not a requisite element. Unusually, the water springs out of the back of the building, not its entryway. The water has four droplets splashing off the little stream, but no lines of current.

Description, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis: 

The Matrícula de Huexotzinco includes several examples of Nahuatl hieroglyphs for the personal name Calli. One of these has the calli in profile, and the other two have frontal views. None of these adds another element, such as atl. This name, not having a numerical component to go with the day sign, may represent an effort to disguise that this was a tonalpohualli name. Serious events in Tetzcoco in 1539 may have made Nahua tlacuilos more cautious when writing and painting about aspects of their faith. See Patricia Lopes Don for information about the Inquisition case against don Carlos Ometochtli, a Chichimecatecuhtli executed in late 1539, in Bonfires of Culture, 2010. Bradley Benton (The Lords of Tetzcoco, 2017, 46) also writes that the case “demonstrates that blatant disregard for Christianity had serious consequences.”

Added Analysis, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Gloss or Text Image: 
Gloss/Text Diplomatic Transcription: 

po. calli.

Gloss/Text Normalization: 

Pedro Calli

Gloss/Text Analysis, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Source Manuscript: 
Vergara, Codex (Verg)
Date of Manuscript: 

1539

Creator's Location (and place coverage): 

near Tepetlaoztoc, near Tetzcoco

Semantic Categories: 
calendrics
day name
personal name
phonetic dimensions
Syntax: 
noun(s)
syllable: a or atl
Writing Features: 
compound of phonogram(s) & logogram(s)
fading tradition, or an effort to disguise?
Cultural Content & Iconography: 
Architecture, Construction, Buildings
Gender (male)
Names (personal and/or theonym)
Time, Calendar, Frequency
Water
Cultural Content, Credit: 

Jeff Haskett-Wood

Colors: 
black & white drawing (no color)
Shapes and Perspectives: 
facing right
profile view
Parts (compounds or simplex + notation): 
2
Reading Order (Compounds or Simplex + Notation): 
downward
Other Cultural Influences: 
Spanish/European
Keywords: 

agua, casas, edificios, adobes, arquitectura, fonetismo, nombres de hombres, men’s names

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

cal(li), a house or building, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/calli

Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation: 

Casa (o Edificio)

Spanish Translation, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Image Source: 

Available at Codex Vergara, folio 23r, https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/btv1b84528032/f53.item.zoom, accessed 22 February 2026. The Vergara is associated with Tepetlaoztoc, in the larger region of Tetzcoco, c. 1539–1543.

Image Source, Rights: 

The non-commercial reuse of images from the Bibliothèque nationale de France is free as long as the user is in compliance with the legislation in force and provides the citation: “Source gallica.bnf.fr / Bibliothèque nationale de France” or “Source gallica.bnf.fr / BnF.” We would also appreciate a citation to the Visual Lexicon of Aztec Hieroglyphs, https://aztecglyphs.wired-humanities.org/.

Historical Contextualizing Image: 
See Also: 

Calli (MH896r)

Calli (MH485v)

Calli (MH493r)

Calhua (Verg24v)

Calli (Verg25r)