cuauhtli (Mdz13v)

cuauhtli (Mdz13v)
Element from a Compound

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description: 

This element of an eagle (cuauhtli) has been carved from the place name Cuauhtlan. In this representation of an eagle, we see only the head, in profile, looking to our left. The bird's feathers are primarily brown, with black feathers on the neck and coming off the back of the head. There is a white area around the eye (which is yellow/gold), going toward the beak (also yellow/gold and black). The beak is slightly open.

Description, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis: 

The eagle head appears here something like an abbreviation when compared to the simplex glyph we have in this collection, where the full figure of an eagle stands for the place name Cuauhtlan without the added -tlan element visualized. The artist is not necessarily a different one; in fact, the isolated head here looks much like the head of the full eagle figure of the other Cuauhtlan.

Added Analysis, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Source Manuscript: 
Mendoza/Mendocino, Codex (Mdz)
Date of Manuscript: 

c. 1541, or by 1553 at the latest

Creator's Location (and place coverage): 

Mexico City

Semantic Categories: 
calendrics
day name
Syntax: 
noun(s)
Cultural Content & Iconography: 
Animals, incl. Birds, Bugs, Insects, Reptiles, etc.
Feathers
Mouth/Beak Open
Time, Calendar, Frequency
Cultural Content, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Colors: 
brown
white/neutral
yellow or golden
Shapes and Perspectives: 
facing left
profile view
SVG of Glyph: 
SVG Image, Credit: 

Joseph Scott and Crystal Boulton-Scott made the SVG.

Keywords: 

eagles, feathers, visual abbreviations, plumas

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

cuauh(tli), eagle, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/cuauhtli

Additional Scholars' Interpretations: 

eagle (here, head only)

Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation: 

el águila (solo la cabeza)

Spanish Translation, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Image Source: 

Codex Mendoza folio 13 verso, https://digital.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/objects/2fea788e-2aa2-4f08-b6d9-648c00..., image 37 of 188.

Image Source, Rights: 

The Bodleian Libraries, University of Oxford, hold the original manuscript, the MS. Arch. Selden. A. 1. This image is published here under the UK Creative Commons, “Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 License” (CC-BY-NC-SA 3.0).

See Also: 

Cuauhtlan (Mdz13v)

Cuauhtlan (Mdz10v)