mimiyahuatl (FCbk11f99v)

mimiyahuatl (FCbk11f99v)
Iconography

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description:

This iconographic example, featuring a honey wasp (mimiyahuatl), 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 full view of the wasp, in flight, at an angle, heading toward the upper left. It has six legs, two narrow wings, and two antennae that look something like curving horns. The landscape setting suggests European artistic influence.

Description, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis:

This is the first honey wasp to enter this digital collection (November 2025). Other types of bees do appear here, such as the pipiyolin and the xicotli. Xico was a popular men’s name.

Added Analysis, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Gloss or Text Image:

Gloss/Text Diplomatic Transcription:

Mimiaoatl

Gloss/Text Normalization:

mimiyahuatl

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:

Animals: Insects & Bugs

Cultural Content, Credit:

Jeff Haskett-Wood

Colors:

Shapes and Perspectives:

bird's eye view

diagonal or angled

facing left

Other Cultural Influences:

Spanish/European

Keywords:

avispas, alas, insecto, insectos, volar, picar

Glyph or Iconographic Image:

Relevant Nahuatl Dictionary Word(s):

mimiyahua(tl), a honey wasp, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/mimiyahuatl

Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation:

la avispa mielera

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. 99v, Getty Research Institute, 2023. https://florentinecodex.getty.edu/en/book/11/folio/99v/images/0 Accessed 16 October 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: