chapolin (FCbk11f101v)

chapolin (FCbk11f101v)
Iconography

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description:

: This iconographic example, featuring a grasshopper (chapolin), is included in this digital collection for the purpose of making comparisons with related hieroglyphs. The term selected for this example comes from the text near the image in the Digital Florentine Codex. There is no gloss, per se. This example shows a profile view of a grasshopper, facing the viewer’s left. It has a segmented body, with green wings and red underside. Its mouth is open, and what appear to be teeth are showing. The positioning of the legs gives the impression of movement. Some shading provides three-dimensionality, something suggestive of European artistic influence. The contextualizing image shows how grasshoppers come in a variety of colors. These insects are edible, and are still a part of the diet of Mexicans today.

Description, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis:

The place name, Chapoltepec, has contributed a number of compound glyphs to this database. Further, the apocopated form, Chapol, was a popular name for men in Huexotzinco in 1560, so this collection has a number of examples of grasshoppers. See below.

Added Analysis, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Gloss or Text Image:

Gloss/Text Diplomatic Transcription:

chapoli

Gloss/Text Normalization:

chapolin

Gloss/Text 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: Insects & Bugs

Food, Eating, Cooking

Mouth/Beak Open

Movement

Teeth Protruding/Noticeable

Cultural Content, Credit:

Jeff Haskett-Wood

Colors:

green (light)

red

Shapes and Perspectives:

facing left

profile view

segmented

shading and parallel line hatching

three-dimensionality

Other Cultural Influences:

Spanish/European

Keywords:

chapulines, saltamontes, grasshoppers, insecto, insectos, saltar

Glyph or Iconographic Image:

Relevant Nahuatl Dictionary Word(s):

chapol(in), grasshopper or locust, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/chapolin

Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation:

el chapulín, el saltamonte

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. 101v, Getty Research Institute, 2023. https://florentinecodex.getty.edu/en/book/11/folio/101v/images/0 Accessed 16 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:

dropped "n"

Historical Contextualizing Image: