Cuauhtemoc (FCbk8f4r)

Cuauhtemoc (FCbk8f4r)
Compound Glyph

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description:

This painted compound glyph for the personal name of the ruler of Tenochtitlan, Cuauhtemoc ("He has Descended Like an Eagle"), shows a profile view of a descending eagle (cuauhtli), his head downward (for temoc, descended), and his beak open. The eagle has brown feathers, a gold claw, and a gold beak. Near the visible leg is a line that may suggest movement.

Description, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis:

Of course, this is a famous name from the period of the Spanish invasion and battle for power. See Mexicolore for a study, “What was Cuauhtemoc’s Emblem?” Also, see the two glyphs in this digital collection for the same name, but held by tribute payers, below. One shows an eagle head (cuauhtli) with alternating footprints descending (temo) from that head. The other has an unidentified object from which footprints descend.

Added Analysis, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Gloss Image:

Gloss Diplomatic Transcription:

quauhtemoc

Gloss Normalization:

Cuauhtemoc

Gloss Analysis, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Source Manuscript:

Florentine/Florentinus, Codex (FC)

Date of Manuscript:

1577

Creator's Location (and place coverage):

Mexico City

Semantic Categories:

personal name

Syntax:

noun(s)

visual movement

Writing Features:

compound fully logographic

Cultural Content & Iconography:

Animals: Birds

Gender (male)

Mouth/Beak Open

Names (personal and/or theonym)

Politics, Power, Governance

Cultural Content, Credit:

Jeff Haskett-Wood

Colors:

brown

yellow or golden

Shapes and Perspectives:

facing downward

profile view

Parts (compounds or simplex + notation):

Reading Order (Compounds or Simplex + Notation):

downward

Keywords:

águila, águilas, bajar, nombres famosos, nombres de hombres

Glyph or Iconographic Image:

Relevant Nahuatl Dictionary Word(s):

Cuauhtemoc, a personal name and a ruler of Tenochtitlan, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/Cuauhtemoc

Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation:

Él Ha Bajado Como una Águila

Spanish Translation, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Image Source:

Available at Digital Florentine Codex/Códice Florentino Digital, edited by Kim N. Richter and Alicia Maria Houtrouw, "Book 8: Kings and Lords", fol. 4r, Getty Research Institute, 2023. https://florentinecodex.getty.edu/en/book/8/folio/4r/images/0. Accessed 20 June 2025.

Image Source, Rights:

Images of the digitized Florentine Codex are made available under the following Creative Commons license: CC BY-NC-ND (Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 4.0 International). For print-publication quality photos, please contact the Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana ([email protected]). The Library of Congress has also published this manuscript, using the images of the World Digital Library copy. “The Library of Congress is unaware of any copyright or other restrictions in the World Digital Library Collection. Absent any such restrictions, these materials are free to use and reuse.”

Orthography:

"q" for c

Historical Contextualizing Image: