Cuixtli (Verg10v)

Cuixtli (Verg10v)
Simplex Glyph

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description: 

This black-line drawing of the compound glyph for the personal name Cuixtli (“Kite,” attested here as a man’s name) shows a profile view of the head of a small bird of prey (the cuixtli), which is called a "kite" in English. It has wispy tufts of feathers, its eye is open, and its beak is open. It looks like an eagle (cuauhtli), but the writer has provided a stellar or starry eye (ixtli, which rhymes with cuixtli), as a phonetic indicator to help the reader know the intention behind the bird's head is not cuauhtli. The eyelid of the stellar eye is white, unlike sometimes.

Description, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

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

1539

Creator's Location (and place coverage): 

near Tepetlaoztoc, near Tetzcoco

Semantic Categories: 
personal name
Syntax: 
noun(s)
Cultural Content & Iconography: 
Anatomy, human body parts
Animals, incl. Birds, Bugs, Insects, Reptiles, etc.
Feathers
Gender (male)
Mouth/Beak Open
Names (personal and/or theonym)
Cultural Content, Credit: 

Jeff Haskett-Wood

Colors: 
black & white drawing (no color)
Shapes and Perspectives: 
circle(s) (small, often concentric)
facing left
frontal view
profile view
spiky
Parts (compounds or simplex + notation): 
2
Reading Order (Compounds or Simplex + Notation): 
upward
Reading Order, Notes: 

It is difficult to say which part should be read first, but perhaps the bird. The eye above it is just to clarify or support the reading; so, alternatively, it could go first, tipping off the reader about what is to come.

Keywords: 

ojos, pájaros, aves rapaces, rapaz, feathers, plumas, nomres de hombres

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

cuix(tli), small bird of prey called a kite, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/cuixtli

Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation: 

Milano (un pequeño ave de rapiña)

Spanish Translation, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Image Source: 

Codex Vergara, folio 10v, https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/btv1b84528032/f28.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: 
See Also: 

Cuauhtli (MH485r)

ixtli (Mdz21v)

Huinetli (MH627v)