huictli (MH563r)

huictli (MH563r)
Element from a Compound

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description: 

This black-line drawing of the element from the compound Tehuic (see below) representing an agricultural tool called the huictli shows an upright implement. The lower part of this huictli is somewhat wider than the top, and it has a point at the tip.

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

Date of Manuscript: 

1560

Creator's Location (and place coverage): 

Huejotzinco, Puebla, Mexico

Cultural Content, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Keywords: 

herramientas agrícolas, tecnología

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

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

Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation: 

una herramienta agrícola

Spanish Translation, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Image Source: 
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).