coatl (MH484v)

coatl (MH484v)
Element from a Compound

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description: 

This element for serpent or snake (coatl) has been carved from the compound sign for the personal name, Mixcoatl. In this black line drawing, the snake is shown in profile, looking to the viewer's right. Its forked tongue protrudes. One eye is visible. It also has spots. Its body has a loop in it, with the head going to the right and the tail to the left. No rattles are visible.

Description, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis: 

The spots and the body positioning of the serpents in the Matrícula de Huexotzinco set them apart from the ones in the Codex Mendoza, as a quick search for coatl will show. But in this case, we need to recognize that they compound of coatl with mixtli (to make the name Mixcoatl) could affect the shape of the serpent.

Added Analysis, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

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

1560

Creator's Location (and place coverage): 

Huejotzingo, Puebla

Syntax: 
noun(s)
Cultural Content & Iconography: 
Animals, incl. Birds, Bugs, Insects, Reptiles, etc.
Cultural Content, Credit: 

Xitlali Torres and Stephanie Wood

Colors: 
black & white drawing (no color)
Shapes and Perspectives: 
spiraling, swirling, coiling, curling
twisted or entwined
profile view
facing right
Keywords: 

serpientes, víboras, snakes, serpents, cohuatl

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

Spanish Translation, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Image Source: 

Matrícula de Huexotzinco, folio 484v, World Digital Library, https://www.loc.gov/resource/gdcwdl.wdl_15282/?sp=48&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).

See Also: 

coatl (Mdz42r)