huictli (MH497v)

huictli (MH497v)
Element from a Compound

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description: 

This black-line drawing of the element huictli (digging stick) has been taken from the compound glyph of the personal name, Zacamol (see below). The shape sits at an angle and is triangular, with the wide end at the bottom.

Description, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis: 

Evidence that the huictli came to be called a coa in Mexican Spanish comes from the Spanish-language text in the Florentine Codex.
Digital Florentine Codex/Códice Florentino Digital, edited by Kim N. Richter and Alicia Maria Houtrouw, "Book 11: Earthly Things", fol. 113v, Sahagún, Bernardino de. Florentine Codex: General History of the Things of New Spain. Transcribed and translated with notes by Arthur J. O. Anderson and Charles E. Dibble. 2nd rev. ed. Santa Fe, NM: School of American Research / University of Utah Press, 1950–82. Getty Research Institute, 2023. https://florentinecodex.getty.edu/en/book/11/folio/113v Accessed 11 November 2025.

Added Analysis, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Source Manuscript: 
Huexotzinco, Matrícula de (MH)
Date of Manuscript: 

1560

Creator's Location (and place coverage): 

Huejotzingo, Puebla, Mexico

Syntax: 
noun(s)
Writing Features: 
simplex or element as logogram
Cultural Content & Iconography: 
Agriculture, Gardens, Stock Raising
Technology (all types), plus Tools
Wood, wooden things
Cultural Content, Credit: 

Jeff Haskett-Wood

Colors: 
black & white drawing (no color)
Shapes and Perspectives: 
facing right
profile view
Keywords: 

herramientas, agricultura, coas

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

huic(tli), indigenous digging stick with a flat blade, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/huictli

Image Source: 

Matrícula de Huexotzinco, folio 497v, World Digital Library, https://www.loc.gov/resource/gdcwdl.wdl_15282/?sp=74&st=image

Image Source, Rights: 

This manuscript is hosted by the Library of Congress and the World Digital Library; used here with the Creative Commons, “Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 License” (CC-BY-NC-SAq 3.0).

See Also: 

Zacamol (MH497v)

huictli (Mdz64r)

huictli (MH563r)

huictli (Verg10v)

huictli (MH642v)

huictli (Azca26)