cuauhtli (MH484r)

cuauhtli (MH484r)
Simplex Glyph

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description: 

This element has been carved from the compound glyph for the personal name Cozcacuauhtli. It is the head of an eagle (cuauhtli), drawn in black lines, in profile, facing to the viewer's right. It has a mostly white face, an open eye, a slightly open beak, and spiky black tufts of feathers surround the face.

Description, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis: 

Of course, the noun cozcacuauhtli actually refers (often) to the vulture, not to the eagle. But the vulture was apparently seen as something like an eagle with a necklace. As explained in our Online Nahuatl Dictionary, the noun cozcacuauhtli also referred to other birds.

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

Xitlali Torres

Colors: 
black & white drawing (no color)
Shapes and Perspectives: 
facing right
profile view
spiky
Keywords: 

águilas, buitres, eagles, vultures

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

cuauhtli, eagle, hawk, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/cuauhtli

Image Source: 

Matrícula de Huexotzinco, folio 484r, World Digital Library, https://www.loc.gov/resource/gdcwdl.wdl_15282/?sp=47&st=image&r=-0.559,-....

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).