huipilli (Mdz13r)

huipilli (Mdz13r)
Simplex Glyph

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description: 

This simplex glyph has multiple components, and yet they are all fused. It can stand for the place name, Cozohuipilecan, or the word for the garment called a huipilli, or the word for a yellow parrot (or its feathers), cozotl). It is a garment with a long-sleeved top and a feathered skirt, primarily yellow, but with a red accent around the neck, and a red horizontal stripe across the hanging feathers that cover the lower abdomen and hips. Compared to the other example of the cozohuipilli in the Codex Mendoza, this one has less feather texturing in the part covering the upper body.

Description, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis: 

This garment would appear to be something worn perhaps by a male warrior, despite the use of huipilli, which is usually a blouse worn by a woman. The pages of the Codex Mendoza that show lots of tribute items have warrior garments that are somewhat similar to this (see folio 36 forward). On folio 37 recto, for instance, there is a yellow garment with a red ring around the neck line. It is described as a "pieza de armas de plumas ricas," a warrior costume made with rich feathers.

Added Analysis, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Source Manuscript: 
Date of Manuscript: 

c. 1541, but by 1553 at the latest

Creator's Location (and place coverage): 

Mexico City

Syntax: 
Cultural Content, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Shapes and Perspectives: 
Keywords: 

tunics, shirts, garments, warrior costume, regalia, la prenda, el traje de guerrero, feathers, plumas

Glyph or Iconographic Image: 
Relevant Nahuatl Dictionary Word(s): 
Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation: 

el huipil, a prenda, el traje de guerrero

Spanish Translation, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Image Source: 

Codex Mendoza, folio 13 recto, https://digital.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/objects/2fea788e-2aa2-4f08-b6d9-648c00..., image 36 of 188.

Image Source, Rights: 

The Bodleian Libraries, University of Oxford, hold the original manuscript, the MS. Arch. Selden. A. 1. This image is published here under the UK Creative Commons, “Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 License” (CC-BY-NC-SA 3.0).