cuitlatl (FCbk11f106r)

cuitlatl (FCbk11f106r)
Iconography

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description:

This iconographic example, featuring a pile of excrement or dung (cuitlatl), is included in this digital collection for the purpose of making comparisons with related hieroglyphs. The term selected for this example comes from the text near the image in the Digital Florentine Codex. There is no gloss, per se. This example shows the heads of two dung beetles at a pile of excrement. Painted in black, white, and gray, the excrement is also shaded, showing European artistic influence. The pile swirls.

Description, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis:

In this digital collection, several examples of cuitlatl coming from humans or animals involve pellet-like balls, and others involve volutes. Rear ends are often also included, probably with the purpose to clarify the origin and nature of the emissions.

Added Analysis, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Gloss or Text Image:

Gloss/Text Diplomatic Transcription:

cuitla

Gloss/Text Normalization:

cuitlatl

Gloss/Text Analysis, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Source Manuscript:

Florentine/Florentinus, Codex (FC)

Date of Manuscript:

1577

Creator's Location (and place coverage):

Mexico City

Syntax:

noun(s)

Cultural Content & Iconography:

Cleanliness, Orderliness, and their absence

Excretions (bodily, human or animal)

Cultural Content, Credit:

Jeff Haskett-Wood

Colors:

black & white drawing (no color)

Shapes and Perspectives:

profile view

spiraling, swirling, coiling, curling

Keywords:

caca, cagada, mierda, popa

Glyph or Iconographic Image:

Relevant Nahuatl Dictionary Word(s):

cuitla(tl), excrement, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/cuitlatl

Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation:

el excremento

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 11: Earthly Things", fol. 106r, Getty Research Institute, 2023. https://florentinecodex.getty.edu/en/book/11/folio/106r/images/0 Accessed 16 October 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.”

Historical Contextualizing Image: