huauhtli (FCbk11f252r)

huauhtli (FCbk11f252r)
Iconography

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description:

This iconographic example, featuring a black and white sketch of an amaranth plant (huauhtli), 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 leafy plant with five thin stocks and visible roots. The leaves are shaped like holly leaves. At the tips of four of the five stalks there are emblematic brush-like flowers. The shadow of the plant appears near the roots, giving it somewhat of a three-dimensionality (a European artistic influence).

Description, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis:

Nahuatl hieroglyphs of huauhtlitypically include these brush-like flowers, but in two cases–from the Codex Mendoza–just the seeds are shown (as dots). The seed cluster or flowering elements are used in some compounds as a phonetic “hua,” “huauh,” or “cuauh” syllable.

Added Analysis, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Gloss or Text Image:

Gloss/Text Diplomatic Transcription:

oauhtli

Gloss/Text Normalization:

huauhtli

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:

Food, Eating, Cooking

Landscape Features

Plants, Flora

Cultural Content, Credit:

Jeff Haskett-Wood

Colors:

black & white drawing (no color)

Shapes and Perspectives:

frontal view

leaf, marquise, pointed oval

roots are visible

shading and parallel line hatching

three-dimensionality

Other Cultural Influences:

Spanish/European

Keywords:

semilla, semillas tostadas, comidas, bledos

Glyph or Iconographic Image:

Relevant Nahuatl Dictionary Word(s):

huauh(tli), amaranth, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/huauhtli

Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation:

el 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. 252r, Getty Research Institute, 2023. https://florentinecodex.getty.edu/en/book/11/folio/252r/images/0 Accessed 16 November 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:

"o" for u, uh, or hu

Historical Contextualizing Image: