Cuauhxilotl (Verg15r)

Cuauhxilotl (Verg15r)
Compound Glyph

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description: 

This black-line drawing of the compound glyph for the personal name Cuauhxilotl (“Tropical Tre with Edible Fruit,” attested here as a man’s name) shows profile view of the head of an eagle looking toward the viewer's left. The eagle's feathers are spiky around the perimeter of the head and at the neck. Two prominent feathers appear below the open eye. The eagle's beak open, and perhaps its tongue is visible. Above the eagle's head is a short stalk of a maize plant with the segmented corn cob at the top with some husk at the bottom and silk at the top, bending off to the right.

Description, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis: 

The literal combination of eagle plus tender corn cob might be off the mark when it comes to translating this name. Cuauhxilotl is a term for a tropical tree with an edible fruit. The term cuaxilotl is sometimes used in Mexico today to refer to bananas.

Added Analysis, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Gloss Image: 
Gloss Diplomatic Transcription: 

juan.cuauhxilotl

Gloss Normalization: 

Juan Cuauhxilotl

Gloss Analysis, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

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

1539

Creator's Location (and place coverage): 

Tepetlaoztoc, near Tetzcoco

Semantic Categories: 
personal name
phonetic dimensions
Syntax: 
noun(s)
Writing Features: 
compound fully phonographic
Cultural Content & Iconography: 
Animals, incl. Birds, Bugs, Insects, Reptiles, etc.
Corn, Maize
Feathers
Food, Eating, Cooking
Gender (male)
Mouth/Beak Open
Names (personal and/or theonym)
Plants, Flora
Cultural Content, Credit: 

Jeff Haskett-Wood

Colors: 
black & white drawing (no color)
Shapes and Perspectives: 
facing left
profile view
segmented
spiky
Parts (compounds or simplex + notation): 
2
Reading Order (Compounds or Simplex + Notation): 
upward
Keywords: 

árboles, frutas, tropicales, nombres de hombres

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

cuauh(tli), eagle, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/cuauhtli
xilo(tl), tender ear of green maize, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/xilotl
cuauhxilo(tl), tropical tree, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/cuauhxilotl

Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation: 

un árbol tropical

Spanish Translation, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Image Source: 

Codex Vergara, folio 15r, https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/btv1b84528032/f37.item.zoom

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: