Coatl (MH483v)

Coatl (MH483v)
Simplex Glyph

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description: 

This simplex glyph of a snake or serpent (coatl) serves as the personal name, Coatl. It shows the full, undulating body of a spotted snake in profile, facing to the viewer's right. One eye is visible, along with a nose, and a protruding forked (or bifurcated) tongue. This is all drawn in black ink with no added colorants.

Description, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis: 

This day sign, coatl, comes from the tonalpohualli, the 260-day divinatory calendar. Calendrics figure importantly in Nahuas' religious views of the cosmos. Men, especially, seem to have carried this name. A wooden, turquoise-mosaic pectoral in the shape of a snake is held in the British Museum, whose curators have written: "The Mexica considered serpents to be powerful, multifaceted creatures that could bridge the spheres (the underworld, water and sky) owing to their physical and mythical characteristics."

Added Analysis, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Gloss Image: 
Gloss Diplomatic Transcription: 

couatl

Gloss Normalization: 

Coatl

Gloss Analysis, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Source Manuscript: 
Huexotzinco, Matrícula de (MH)
Date of Manuscript: 

1560

Creator's Location (and place coverage): 

Huejotzingo, Puebla

Semantic Categories: 
calendrics
day name
personal name
Cultural Content & Iconography: 
Animals, incl. Birds, Bugs, Insects, Reptiles, etc.
Religion (Indigenous)
Time, Calendar, Frequency
Tongue Protruding/Noticeable
Colors: 
black & white drawing (no color)
Shapes and Perspectives: 
bifurcated
curving, curvy, curved
facing right
horizontal
profile view
spotted or mottled
Keywords: 

culebras, víboras, serpientes

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

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

Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation: 

El Serpiente

Image Source: 

Matrícula de Huexotzinco, folio 483v, World Digital Library, https://www.loc.gov/resource/gdcwdl.wdl_15282/?sp=46&st=image.

Image Source, Rights: 

This manuscript is hosted by the Library of Congress and the World Digital Library; used here with the Creative Commons, “Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 License” (CC-BY-NC-SAq 3.0).

Historical Contextualizing Image: 
See Also: 

coatl (Mdz8r)

coatl (Mdz5v)

coatl (Mdz24r)