Malintzin (FCbk12f13v)

This iconographic example, featuring a black and white sketch of the Indigenous woman baptized as doña Marina (which was then Nahuatlized as Malintzin and reinterpreted back into Spanish as Malinche) doing the work of interpreting, is included in this digital collection for the purpose of making comparisons with related hieroglyphs. The term selected for this example comes from the text on the page preceding the image in the Digital Florentine Codex. There is no gloss, per se. This example shows the famous female interpreter standing between Cortés, seated in a three-quarters profile view, facing left, and seated on a bench with legs. He wears a black bolero had and a belted tunic, maybe with leggings. He gestures with both hands, but pointing with the index finger on his right hand. Perhaps surprisingly, in this scene there are no speech scrolls. Malintzin also gestures with both hands back toward the two Nahua men. She also points with her right index finger. The Nahua men are also gesturing and pointing. They wear cloaks tied on their shoulders and loincloths. Malintzin wears a huipilli blouse with a rectangular patch on her chest and a long skirt with a border at the bottom. Her hair is twisted into two points above her forehead, in what is called the neaxtlahualli or axtlahuilli hairstyle for adult women. The Nahuatl text explains how she translated into Nahuatl everything that Cortés said in Spanish. Her home is said to be in Teticpac. This scene is set in a simple landscape, and the textiles are shaded to give them three-dimensionality, both being traits learned by the tlacuilos from colonial art instructors.