Huitzilcuauh (Verg44r)

Huitzilcuauh (Verg44r)
Compound Glyph

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description: 

This black-line drawing of the compound Nahuatl hieroglyph for the personal name Huitzilcuauh (perhaps "Hummingbird-Eagle") is attested here as a man's name. It shows the head of a hummingbird (huitzilin), in profile, beak tipped upward, and facing left. Above this is the head of an eagle (cuauhtli), also in profile, facing left, and its beak is tipped upward but also open.

Description, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis: 

Another example of this personal name, Huitzilcuauh, with similar elements can be found in the Matrícula de Huexotzinco.

Added Analysis, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Gloss or Text Image: 
Gloss/Text Diplomatic Transcription: 

juā. huicilcuauh

Gloss/Text Normalization: 

Juan Huitzilcuauh

Gloss/Text Analysis, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Source Manuscript: 
Vergara, Codex (Verg)
Date of Manuscript: 

1539

Creator's Location (and place coverage): 

near Tepetlaoztoc, near Tetzcoco

Semantic Categories: 
personal name
Syntax: 
noun(s)
Writing Features: 
compound fully logographic
Cultural Content & Iconography: 
Animals: Birds
Feathers
Gender (male)
Names (personal and/or theonym)
Cultural Content, Credit: 

Jeff Haskett-Wood

Colors: 
black & white drawing (no color)
Shapes and Perspectives: 
facing left
profile view
Parts (compounds or simplex + notation): 
2
Reading Order (Compounds or Simplex + Notation): 
upward
Keywords: 

colibríes, águilas, nombres de hombres, men’s names, animales

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

huitzil(in), a hummingbird, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/huitzilin
cuauh(tli), eagle, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/cuauhtli

Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation: 

posiblemente, Colibrí-Águila

Spanish Translation, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Image Source: 

Available at Codex Vergara, folio 44r, https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/btv1b84528032/f95.item.zoom, accessed 25 March 2026. The Vergara is associated with Tepetlaoztoc, in the larger region of Tetzcoco, c. 1539–1543. “Source gallica.bnf.fr / BnF.” We would also appreciate a citation to the Visual Lexicon of Aztec Hieroglyphs, https://aztecglyphs.wired-humanities.org/.

Image Source, Rights: 

Image Rights: The non-commercial reuse of images from the Bibliothèque nationale de France is free as long as the user is in compliance with the legislation in force and provides the citation: “Source gallica.bnf.fr / Bibliothèque nationale de France” or “Source gallica.bnf.fr / BnF.” We would also appreciate a citation to the Visual Lexicon of Aztec Hieroglyphs, https://aztecglyphs.wired-humanities.org/

Orthography: 
"ç" for z or tz
Historical Contextualizing Image: 
See Also: 

Huitzilcuauh (MH607v)