coatl (Azca9)

coatl (Azca9)
Element from a Compound

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description: 

This element of a serpent (coatl) comes from the compound glyph for a personal name (perhaps Calcoatl, see the contextualizing image). The serpent is shown in profile, upright, and facing toward the viewer's right. Its body is curved in an S-shape and is without added color or texturing. Its eye is open, as is its mouth, and its red tongue (not bifurcated) is protruding and curving slightly upward.

Description, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis: 

The gloss misses the calli element in the compound glyph (if that is what it is). The gloss also adds that this is a "mujer" (woman), when the person is wearing a loincloth and a vertical lock on the top of their head, tied with what seems to be a red leather strap. These are characteristics of priests and warriors (typically male). That said, one woman (Chimalma or Chimalman) was prominent in carrying the accoutrements of divinities in the legendary migration from Aztlan.

Added Analysis, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Gloss Image: 
Gloss Diplomatic Transcription: 

cohuatl

Gloss Normalization: 

coatl

Gloss Analysis, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Source Manuscript: 
Azcatitlan, Codex (Azca)
Date of Manuscript: 

post-1550, but content about the migration from Aztlan to about 1527

Creator's Location (and place coverage): 

perhaps Tlatelolco, Mexico City

Semantic Categories: 
personal name
Syntax: 
noun(s)
Cultural Content & Iconography: 
Animals, incl. Birds, Bugs, Insects, Reptiles, etc.
Gender (male)
Mouth/Beak Open
Names (personal and/or theonym)
Tongue Protruding/Noticeable
Cultural Content, Credit: 

Jeff Haskett-Wood

Colors: 
red
Shapes and Perspectives: 
spiraling, swirling, coiling, curling
S-shapes (any direction)
vertical, upright
curving, curvy, curved
profile view
facing right
Keywords: 

serpientes, cohuatl, serpents

Glyph or Iconographic Image: 
Relevant Nahuatl Dictionary Word(s): 

coa(tl), a snake or serpent, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/coatl

Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation: 

Serpiente

Spanish Translation, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Image Source: 

The Codex Azcatitlan is also known as the Histoire mexicaine, [Manuscrit] Mexicain 59–64. It is housed in the Bibliothèque Nationale de France, and hosted on line by the World Digital Library and the Library of Congress.
https://www.loc.gov/resource/gdcwdl.wdl_15280/?sp=9&st=image

Image Source, Rights: 

The Library of Congress is “unaware of any copyright or other restrictions in the World Digital Library Collection.” But please cite Bibliothèque Nationale de France and this Visual Lexicon of Aztec Hieroglyphs.

Historical Contextualizing Image: 
See Also: 

coatl (Mdz17v)