huitzmallotl (FCbk9f)

huitzmallotl (FCbk9f)
Iconography

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description:

This iconographic example, featuring a sewing needle (huitzmallotl), is included in this digital collection for the purpose of making potential comparisons with related hieroglyphs. The term selected for this example comes from the text near the image in the Digital Florentine Codex. There is no gloss, per se. This example shows a vertical, yellow (therefore, perhaps gold) needle. The point is downward, and the dark eye of the needle is toward the top.

Description, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis:

Sewing has only a light representation in this collection, if we do not count all the beautifully woven and embroidered textiles that populate it. Below are two pairs of scissors that were actually part of a glyph about shoemaking. And most sewing references show bones perforating fabrics. The glyph for Mocuecuezo may show a thread for sewing (cuecuezo is the verb meaning to sew with thread), even if it was employed as a phonetic indicator.

Added Analysis, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Gloss Image:

Gloss Diplomatic Transcription:

vitzmallotl

Gloss Normalization:

huitzmallotl

Gloss 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:

Metals, Minerals, Mining

Textiles, Clothing, Hats, Regalia

Cultural Content, Credit:

Jeff Haskett-Wood

Colors:

yellow or golden

Shapes and Perspectives:

frontal view

vertical, upright

Keywords:

agujas, metales, oro, textiles, coser

Glyph or Iconographic Image:

Relevant Nahuatl Dictionary Word(s):

huitzmallo(tl), a sewing needle, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/huitzmallotl

Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation:

la aguja para coser

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 9: The Merchants", fol. 8r, Getty Research Institute, 2023. https://florentinecodex.getty.edu/en/book/9/folio/8r/images/0 Accessed 27 August 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.”

Orthography:

"v" for u, uh, or hu

Historical Contextualizing Image: