Cencuauhtla (Verg39v)

Cencuauhtla (Verg39v)
Compound Glyph

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description:

This compound Nahuatl hieroglyph is a black-line drawing of the personal name Cencuauhtla (“Where Everything is Abundantly Wooded”), attested here as a man’s name. The elements are read from the bottom upward, beginning with a maize cob (centli), which provides the phonetic syllable Cen- (“entirely”), then there is a tree (cuahuitl, whose stem is cuauh-, semantically represented) with five branches, and finally a pair of front teeth (tlantli), which provide the phonetic syllable -tla (here meaning abundance).

Description, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis:

Another very similar example of Cencuauhtla (not yet captured for this collection) is found in the Vergara on folio 44v.

Added Analysis, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Gloss or Text Image:

Gloss/Text Diplomatic Transcription:

mrs. cēcuauhtla.

Gloss/Text Normalization:

Marcos Cencuauhtla

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:

personal name

phonetic dimensions

Syntax:

noun(s)

syllable: ce/cen/cem (from centli)

syllable: tla/tlan/tlal (from tlantli)

Writing Features:

compound of phonogram(s) & logogram(s)

Cultural Content & Iconography:

Anatomy, human body parts

Corn, Maize

Food, Eating, Cooking

Gender (male)

Landscape Features

Names (personal and/or theonym)

Plants, Flora

Cultural Content, Credit:

Jeff Haskett-Wood

Colors:

black & white drawing (no color)

Shapes and Perspectives:

frontal view

Parts (compounds or simplex + notation):

Reading Order (Compounds or Simplex + Notation):

upward

Keywords:

nombre de hombres, men’s names, dientes, árbol, árboles, maíz, mazorca, mazorcas

Glyph or Iconographic Image:

Relevant Nahuatl Dictionary Word(s):

cencuauhtla, where everything is abundantly wooded, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/cencuauhtla

Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation:

“Donde Todo es Monte”

Spanish Translation, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Image Source:

Available at Codex Vergara, folio 39v, https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/btv1b84528032/f86.item.zoom, accessed 10 March 2026. The Vergara is associated with Tepetlaoztoc, in the larger region of Tetzcoco, c. 1539–1543. “Source gallica.bnf.fr / BnF.” We would also appreciate a citation to the Visual Lexicon of Aztec Hieroglyphs, https://aztecglyphs.wired-humanities.org/.

Image Source, Rights:

Image 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/

Orthography:

intrusive period

Historical Contextualizing Image: