metl (FCbk11f200r)

metl (FCbk11f200r)
Iconography

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description:

This iconographic example, featuring a maguey agave plant (metl), 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. This example shows a three-dimensional, black, white and gray maguey plant (metl). It has a core and at least seven branches. The branches have scalloped edges with thorns at the tip of each scallop. The branches are shaded, giving them three-dimensionality, a stylistic learned from the Europeans.

Description, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis:

This collection does have some metl plants that are all parts of compound hieroglyphs, providing the “-me-” phonetic syllable (as in the viceregal surname “Mendoza”, the name or ethnicity “Mexi,” or the personal name meaning body sweat, “Metzocuitla”) or a semantic element (e.g., Metepec). See examples below.

Added Analysis, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Gloss or Text Image:

Gloss/Text Diplomatic Transcription:

Metl

Gloss/Text Normalization:

metl

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:

Beverages (incl. alcohol)

Plants, Flora

Cultural Content, Credit:

Jeff Haskett-Wood

Colors:

black & white drawing (no color)

Shapes and Perspectives:

frontal view

scalloped edges

shading and parallel line hatching

three-dimensionality

Other Cultural Influences:

Spanish/European

Keywords:

magueyes, agaves, plantas, bebidas, pulque, mezcal, mexcalli

Glyph or Iconographic Image:

Relevant Nahuatl Dictionary Word(s):

me(tl), the maguey agave plant, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/metl

Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation:

el maguey

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. 200r, Getty Research Institute, 2023. https://florentinecodex.getty.edu/en/book/11/folio/200r/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: