ce xiuhtica (CST28)
This painting of the simplex glyph for year (xihuitl) plus the notation for one (ce) combines to provide the phrase ce xiuhtica (for the year). This is the Mixtec glyph for year which has the shape of a capital A painted green. Across the middle of the A is a horizontal O, painted red in this case. Some scalloping appears at the bottom of the A. The color green may have something to do with the other meaning of xihuitl, which is to refer to herbs and other green things. Off to the right of this A-O sign for “year”–and connected to it by a thin black line–appear two small concentric circles. The outer ring is red, and the inner circle is filled in again with a green color. These circles provide the number one, in other words, the literal phrase “one year.”
Stephanie Wood
The A-O sign is well documented. Several examples in this collection come from the Mixtec Codex Quetzalecatzin. In those cases, the A is turquoise blue, and the O is red. For more on the Codex Sierra, see Kevin Terraciano’s study (2021). This collection does have another example of the use of ce xiuhtica, although we are including it as an example of xihuitl (year). This comes from the Tierras collection of the General Mexican National Archive (Archivo General de la Nación, Mexico), where the phrase is also “ce xiuhtica” (“for one year” or “for the year”). Also below is an example of the term xihuitl shown as the leaf of an herb. Many examples of the name Xiuhnel show greenery, too.
Stephanie Wood
ce xiuhtica
Stephanie Wood
1550–1564
Jeff Haskett-Wood
calendarios, años, números, notaciones, tiempo
ce xiuhtica, for the year, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/ce-xiuhtica
xihui(tl), year, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/xihuitl
xihui(tl), herbs and greenish things, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/xihuitl-0
ce, one, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/ce
-tica, for that length of time, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/tica
por el año
Stephanie Wood
Códice Sierra-Texupan, plate 28, page dated 1559. 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
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.
