huilotl (FCbk11f54v)

huilotl (FCbk11f54v)
Iconography

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description:

This iconographic example, featuring a mourning dove (huilotl), is included in this digital collection for the purpose of making comparisons with related hieroglyphs. The term selected for this example comes from the Nahuatl text on the same page as the image in the Digital Florentine Codex. There is no gloss, per se. This example shows a ¾ view of a huilotl in flight (showing movement). Its head is turned to the right in a profile view. The mourning dove is set in a landscape that shows European stylistic influences.

Description, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis:

This digital collection has two examples of hieroglyphs of a huilotl, one from a place name and one standing for a personal name. The text explains that the name comes fro the sound the bird makes uilo-o-o, making the bird’s name is onomatopoetic.

Added Analysis, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Gloss or Text Image:

Gloss/Text Diplomatic Transcription:

vilotl

Gloss/Text Normalization:

huilotl

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: Birds

Feathers

Movement

Cultural Content, Credit:

Jeff Haskett-Wood

Colors:

Shapes and Perspectives:

3/4 view

facing right

profile view

Other Cultural Influences:

Spanish/European

Keywords:

ave, aves, pájaro, pájaros, volar, onomatopéyico

Glyph or Iconographic Image:

Relevant Nahuatl Dictionary Word(s):

huilo(tl), a mourning dove, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/huilotl

Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation:

el huilote (un tipo de paloma)

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. 54v, Getty Research Institute, 2023. https://florentinecodex.getty.edu/en/book/11/folio/54v/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.”

Historical Contextualizing Image: