Chalchiuh (MH520r)

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description:

This black-line drawing of the simplex glyph for the personal name Chalchiuh (here, attested as a man's name), shows two large concentric circles with some divisions and markings inside both circles. Around the perimeter are four smaller circles evenly spaced, and each of these has a yet smaller circle inside it. If the outer circles were connected, the shape would be an X. The effect is a quincunx. This is the chalchihuitl (jadeite, green stone) glyph.

Description, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis:

See other examples of the chalchihuitl glyph below.

Added Analysis, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Gloss or Text Image:

Gloss/Text Diplomatic Transcription:

pe^o chalchiuh

Gloss/Text Normalization:

Pedro Chalchiuh

Gloss/Text Analysis, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Source Manuscript:

Florentine/Florentinus, Codex (FC)

Date of Manuscript:

1560

Creator's Location (and place coverage):

Huejotzingo, Puebla

Syntax:

noun(s)

Cultural Content, Credit:

Jeff Haskett-Wood

Keywords:

jades, piedras verdes, brilla, nombres de hombres

Museum & Rare Book Comparisons:

Museum/Rare Book Notes:

This stone carving of the glyph for jadeite (chalchihuitl) is located in the Museo Xolotl in the archaeological site of Tenayuca (in the region of Tlalnepantla, Mexico City). One of the circlets on the perimeter--in the upper left corner--has been broken off. Photo by Stephanie Wood, 13 August 2023.

Glyph or Iconographic Image:

Relevant Nahuatl Dictionary Word(s):

chalchihui(tl), jadeite or greenstone, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/chalchihuitl

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 10: The People", fol. 39v, Getty Research Institute, 2023. https://florentinecodex.getty.edu/en/book/10/folio/39v/images/0 Accessed 10 September 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.”

Historical Contextualizing Image:

Chalchiuh (MH520r)

Chalchiuh (MH520r)

chalchihuitl (Mdz41r)

Chalchiuh (MH505r)

Chalchiuh (MH632r)

Chalchiuh (MH828r)

Chalchiuh (BMap I55)

chalchihuitl (FCbk10f137r)