chachahuatl (FCbk11f19v)

chachahuatl (FCbk11f19v)
Iconography

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description:

This iconographic example, featuring a dormouse (chachahuatl), is included in this digital collection for the purpose of making comparisons with related hieroglyphs. The term selected for this example comes from the Nahuatl text on the page prior to this image in the Digital Florentine Codex. There is no gloss, per se. This example shows a small, hairy, gray animal with a long tail and fairly long whiskers. It is shown in profile, facing toward the viewer’s right. Its front paws are in the air, as though it is in movement. The animal is set into a landscape, which shows European artistic influence.

Description, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis:

This is the first chachahuatl to enter this digital collection, but it does resemble the quimichin, for which there are a few entries.

Added Analysis, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Gloss Image:

Gloss Diplomatic Transcription:

chachaoatl

Gloss Normalization:

chachahuatl

Gloss 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:

Animals: Rodents

Movement

Cultural Content, Credit:

Jeff Haskett-Wood

Colors:

black

gray

white/neutral

Shapes and Perspectives:

facing right

profile view

Other Cultural Influences:

Spanish/European

Keywords:

lirones, animales, rata, ratas, ratón, ratones

Glyph or Iconographic Image:

Relevant Nahuatl Dictionary Word(s):

chachahua(tl), a dormouse, rat, or pocket gopher, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/chachahuatl

Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation:

el lirón

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. 19v, Getty Research Institute, 2023. https://florentinecodex.getty.edu/en/book/11/folio/19v/images/0 Accessed 7 October 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.”

Orthography:

"o" for u, uh, or hu

Historical Contextualizing Image: