matlalin (FCbk11f217v)

matlalin (FCbk11f217v)
Iconography

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description:

This iconographic example, featuring a blue flower (matlalin), 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 near the image in the Digital Florentine Codex. There is no gloss, per se. It is not unusual that this term is spelled matlali, with the final “n” having dropped away. This example shows a black-line drawing of a four-petalled flower that has an X-shape where the four petals join in the middle. The flower is attached to a low-growing herb with long, curving leaves that have a line down the middle of the length. The landscape setting shows European artistic influence.

Description, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis:

Most often, this flower is described as blue, but in some sources it is called green, perhaps partly owing to the lack of a clear distinction in early Nahua thinking about the two colors. See some hieroglyphic examples below. Only one of these was painted by the tlacuilo, and it is a turquoise blue with a red center. Also, among the hieroglyphic examples, some have three and some have four petals.

Added Analysis, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Gloss or Text Image:

Gloss/Text Diplomatic Transcription:

matlali

Gloss/Text Normalization:

matlalin

Gloss/Text 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:

Color names

Flowers

Plants, Flora

Cultural Content, Credit:

Jeff Haskett-Wood

Colors:

black & white drawing (no color)

Shapes and Perspectives:

frontal view

Other Cultural Influences:

Spanish/European

Keywords:

flores, azules, verde, verdes, hierbas, herbs, flowers

Glyph or Iconographic Image:

Relevant Nahuatl Dictionary Word(s):

matlal(in), a blue flower, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/matlalin

Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation:

la flor azul (o cardenillo en el español del siglo XVI)

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 11: Earthly Things", fol. 217v, Getty Research Institute, 2023. https://florentinecodex.getty.edu/en/book/11/folio/217v/images/0 Accessed 16 November 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.”

Historical Contextualizing Image: