metztli (FCbk7f2v)

metztli (FCbk7f2v)
Iconography

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description:

This iconographic example, featuring a moon (metztli) is included in this digital collection for the purpose of making potential comparisons with related hieroglyphs. The term comes from the companion text in the Digital Florentine Codex. This example differs from the one on the previous page in that this depiction has a rabbit inside the circle and in front of the crescent and no anthropomorphic face. The rabbit is vertical, head up and tail down, in profile, facing toward the viewer’s right. Its forelegs are reading out somewhat, which it sits on its hind feet. Its visible eye is open, as is its mouth. The rabbit is brown with a white underside, giving it a three-dimensional look. The space around the rabbit is a light gray. The moon is white with a light gray outer edge. The circle is inside a square with a white border and a turquoise-blue background for the moon.

Description, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis:

The moon on the previous page to this one has an anthropomorphic face, much more European than this one. Other examples of moons in this digital collection (as of July 2025) either show simple crescents (from Tierras in 1558) or a moon with a human-like face. For more on the rabbit in the moon, see Ian Mursell’s short piece, “A Rabbit in the Moon,” along with his longer essay < href=”https://www.mexicolore.co.uk/aztecs/stories/creation-of-the-moon”>“Creation of the Moon” story.

Added Analysis, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Gloss Image:

Gloss Diplomatic Transcription:

metztli

Gloss Normalization:

metztli

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:

calendrics

Syntax:

noun(s)

Cultural Content & Iconography:

Animals: Misc.

Celestial Phenomena

Time, Calendar, Frequency

Cultural Content, Credit:

Jeff Haskett-Wood

Colors:

Shapes and Perspectives:

border (red, plain, or patterned)

circle, circular or rounded

facing right

profile view

shading and parallel line hatching

three-dimensionality

Other Cultural Influences:

Spanish/European

Keywords:

lunas, meses, conejos

Glyph or Iconographic Image:

Relevant Nahuatl Dictionary Word(s):

metz(tli), a moon, a month, a crescent, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/metztli

Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation:

la luna, el mes

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 7: The Sun, Moon and Stars", fol. 2v, Getty Research Institute, 2023. https://florentinecodex.getty.edu/en/book/7/folio/2v/images/0 Accessed 13 July 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: