chichime (FCbk12f22r)

This iconographic example, featuring a black and white sketch of two dogs (chichime, or chichimeh, with the glottal stop, the plural of chichi, dog), 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 contextualizing shows how these two dogs were with the Spanish invasionary party–men wearing armor, carrying lances and a banner, and riding horses. This is set in a vague landscape with shading for three-dimensionality (a learned European artistic style). The Nahuatl text describes the dogs, which caught the attention of the tlacuilo, as “sniffing” and “constantly panting.” On other folios in Book 12, the dogs are said to be huge, with large jowls, foam dropping from the jowls, ears folded over, and eyes like burning coals. We do not see protruding tongues here, which is something of a surprise, given how many animals in this digital collection have their tongues out. The curling tail on one of these dogs does tie in with the attention to curling objects often captured in Nahuatl hieroglyphs, including things like swirling water and air.