huapapalotl (FCbk11f101r)

huapapalotl (FCbk11f101r)
Iconography

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description:

This iconographic example, featuring a type of butterfly (huapapalotl), 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 a frontal view of a red butterfly with what appear to be eyes down the outer edges of the wings. While the textual description of this papalotl (butterfly) says the wings are chile-red, perhaps the red color has faded. The insect is set into a landscape, which suggests European artistic influence.

Description, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis:

This is the first huapapalotl to enter this digital collection (November 2025). But butterflies are prevalent as Nahuatl hieroglyphs, and the starry-eye design also appears on textiles and elsewhere.

Added Analysis, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Gloss or Text Image:

Gloss/Text Diplomatic Transcription:

Vappapalotl

Gloss/Text Normalization:

huapapalotl (or huappapalotl)

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:

Animals: Insects & Bugs

Plants, Flora

Cultural Content, Credit:

Jeff Haskett-Wood

Colors:

pink

red

white/neutral

Shapes and Perspectives:

frontal view

Keywords:

mariposas, hoja, hojas, rojo

Glyph or Iconographic Image:

Relevant Nahuatl Dictionary Word(s):

huapapalo(tl), a butterfly with red wings that resemble the huauhtli plant leaves when mature, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/huapapalotl

Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation:

la mariposa con alas parecidas a las hojas del amaranto

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. 101r, Getty Research Institute, 2023. https://florentinecodex.getty.edu/en/book/11/folio/101r/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.”

Orthography:

"v" for u, uh, or hu

Historical Contextualizing Image: