Itzcoatl (FCbk8f1r)

Itzcoatl (FCbk8f1r)
Compound Glyph

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description:

This is a painting of the compound glyph for the personal name Itzcoatl (or Itzcoatzin in the reverential, meaning literally, “Obsidian Blade-Serpent”). He was a fifteenth-century ruler in Tenochtitlan. The glyph shows an undulating serpent (coatl) in gray, white, and black. All along the serpent’s back are obsidian points (itztli). The snake’s belly is white and segmented. It does not have a rattler tail.

Description, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis:

See other glyphs for Itzcoatl, below. Tlacuilos of the Codex Mendoza use little arrows for the obsidian points, whereas the Codex Telleriano-Remensis tlacuilos use the obsidian points themselves. Most of these serpents have bifurcated tongues. Some have orange and red colors. The Codex Mendoza serpents for this glyph do not have rattler tails, but the Telleriano-Remensis does.

Added Analysis, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Gloss Image:

Gloss Diplomatic Transcription:

Itzcoatzin

Gloss Normalization:

Itzcoatzin

Gloss Analysis, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Source Manuscript:

Florentine/Florentinus, Codex (FC)

Date of Manuscript:

1577

Creator's Location (and place coverage):

Mexico City

Semantic Categories:

personal name

Syntax:

noun(s)

Writing Features:

compound fully logographic

Cultural Content & Iconography:

Animals: Reptiles

Gender (male)

Names (personal and/or theonym)

Politics, Power, Governance

Social Hierarchy, Commoners, Elites

Stones, Rocks, Lapidary, Masonry

Technology (all types), plus Tools

Tongue Protruding/Noticeable

Weapons, Shields, Armor

Cultural Content, Credit:

Jeff Haskett-Wood

Colors:

black

gray

white/neutral

Shapes and Perspectives:

Parts (compounds or simplex + notation):

Reading Order (Compounds or Simplex + Notation):

downward

Keywords:

serpiente, serpientes, obsidiana, nombres famosos, nombres de hombres

Glyph or Iconographic Image:

Relevant Nahuatl Dictionary Word(s):

Itzcoatl, a ruler of Tenochtitlan, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/itzcoatl
itz(tli), obsidian blade, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/itztli
coa(tl), snake or serpent, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/coatl

Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation:

Obsidiana-Serpiente (nombre de un gobernante)

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 8: Kings and Lords", fol. 1r, Getty Research Institute, 2023. https://florentinecodex.getty.edu/en/book/8/folio/1r/images/0 Accessed 21 June 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:

intrusive comma

Historical Contextualizing Image: