izcaltia seda (CST37)
This painting of the simplex glyph for the verb and noun, izcaltia seda (to raise silk[worms]) shows a frontal view of three silkworms associated with a bundle of branches. They are tied at their stems, and they are seemingly covered with cocoons. Next to the branches and pointing at them is a Spaniard, according to the companion Nahuatl text. He is said to have cultivated silk in Santa Catalina Texupan with the agreement of the local Indigenous town council.
Stephanie Wood
For more on the Codex Sierra, see Kevin Terraciano’s study (2021) and sericulture, see pp. 77–83.
Stephanie Wood
1550–1564
Jeff Haskett-Wood
crianza, gusanos, seda, silk, worms, raise
izcaltia, to raise, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/izcaltia
criar gusanos de seda
Stephanie Wood
Códice Sierra-Texupan, plate 37, page dated 1561. Origin: Santa Catalina Texupan, Mixteca Alta, State of Oaxaca. Kevin Terraciano has published an outstanding study of this manuscript (Codex Sierra, 2021), and in his book he refers to alphabetic and “pictorial” writing, not hieroglyphic writing. We are still counting some of the imagery from this source as hieroglyphic writing, but we are also including examples of “iconography” where the images verge on European style illustrations or scenes showing activities. We have this iconography category so that such images can be fruitfully compared with hieroglyphs. Hieroglyphic writing was evolving as a result of the influence of European illustrations, and even alphabetic writing impacted it.
https://bidilaf.buap.mx/objeto.xql?id=48281&busqueda=Texupan&action=search
The Biblioteca Digital Lafragua of the Biblioteca Histórica José María Lafragua in Puebla, Mexico, publishes this Códice Sierra-Texupan, 1550–1564 (62pp., 30.7 x 21.8 cm.), referring to it as being in the “Public Domain.” This image is published here under a Creative Commons license, asking that you cite the Biblioteca Digital Lafragua and this Visual Lexicon of Aztec Hieroglyphs.
