Coatl (Verg25r)

Coatl (Verg25r)
Compound Glyph

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description: 

This compound Nahuatl hieroglyph is a black-line drawing of the personal name Coatl (“Serpent”) spelled out entirely phonetically and attested here as a man’s name. The elements are a pottery jug (comitl) and water (atl) coming out of the top. Is the tlacuilo intentionally disguising that the name refers to a serpent and is part of the tonalpohualli, pre-contact calendar?

Description, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis: 

Coatl was a popular personal name, but in other manuscripts it typically comprises the drawing of a serpent. It has no numerical companion, and it may be disguised on top of this to call less attention to the name out of a worry that the clergy would object. Serious events in Tetzcoco in 1539 may have made Nahua tlacuilos more cautious when writing and painting about aspects of their faith. See Patricia Lopes Don for information about the Inquisition case against don Carlos Ometochtli, a Chichimecatecuhtli executed in late 1539, in Bonfires of Culture, 2010. Bradley Benton (The Lords of Tetzcoco, 2017, 46) also writes that the case “demonstrates that blatant disregard for Christianity had serious consequences.”

Added Analysis, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Gloss or Text Image: 
Gloss/Text Diplomatic Transcription: 

mrcs(?) coatl

Gloss/Text Normalization: 

Marcos Coatl

Gloss/Text Analysis, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Source Manuscript: 
Vergara, Codex (Verg)
Date of Manuscript: 

1539

Creator's Location (and place coverage): 

near Tepetlaoztoc, near Tetzcoco

Semantic Categories: 
personal name
phonetic dimensions
Syntax: 
noun(s)
syllable: a or atl
syllable: co or con (from comitl, pot/jug)
Writing Features: 
compound fully phonographic
fading tradition, or an effort to disguise?
Cultural Content & Iconography: 
Animals: Snakes
Gender (male)
Names (personal and/or theonym)
Pottery, Earthenware
Time, Calendar, Frequency
Water
Cultural Content, Credit: 

Jeff Haskett-Wood

Colors: 
black & white drawing (no color)
Shapes and Perspectives: 
frontal view
Parts (compounds or simplex + notation): 
2
Reading Order (Compounds or Simplex + Notation): 
upward
Other Cultural Influences: 
Spanish/European
Keywords: 

serpientes, barro, cerámica, agua, disfraces, fonetismo, nombres de hombres, men’s names

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: 

Serpiente

Spanish Translation, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Image Source: 

Available at Codex Vergara, folio 25r, https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/btv1b84528032/f57.item.zoom, accessed 22 February 2026. The Vergara is associated with Tepetlaoztoc, in the larger region of Tetzcoco, c. 1539–1543.

Image Source, Rights: 

The non-commercial reuse of images from the Bibliothèque nationale de France is free as long as the user is in compliance with the legislation in force and provides the citation: “Source gallica.bnf.fr / Bibliothèque nationale de France” or “Source gallica.bnf.fr / BnF.” We would also appreciate a citation to the Visual Lexicon of Aztec Hieroglyphs, https://aztecglyphs.wired-humanities.org/.

Historical Contextualizing Image: 
See Also: 

Coatl (Verg8v)

Coatl (Verg23r)