Miquiz (Verg45r)

Miquiz (Verg45r)
Compound Glyph

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description: 

This compound Nahuatl hieroglyph is a black-line drawing of the personal name Miquiz (“Death”), attested here as a man’s name. The compound has two elements. One is the skull, which is the sign for “death” and a day name in the 260-day religious divinatory calendar (the tonalpohualli). The second element consists of five short black obsidian blades (itztli). These blades serve as a phonetic complement, assuring the reader that the name ends in -iz.

Description, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis: 

This type of calendrical name would have originally had a numerical companion, such as Ce Miquiztli (One Death, or 1-Death). This practice was either declining or it was suppressed in reaction to the colonial clergy’s opposition to the continuing use of the tonalpohualli. The use of the phonetic complement here is an added phonetic feature that most similar names in central-area manuscripts do not have.

Added Analysis, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Gloss or Text Image: 
Gloss/Text Diplomatic Transcription: 

franco. miquiz.

Gloss/Text Normalization: 

Francisco Miquiz

Gloss/Text Analysis, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Source Manuscript: 
Vergara, Codex (Verg)
Date of Manuscript: 

1539

Creator's Location (and place coverage): 

near Tepetlaoztoc, near Tetzcoco

Semantic Categories: 
personal name
phonetic dimensions
Syntax: 
noun(s)
syllable: ix/is/iz/itz (from itztli, obsidian blade)
Writing Features: 
compound of phonogram(s) & logogram(s)
Cultural Content & Iconography: 
Death, decay, decomposition
Gender (male)
Names (personal and/or theonym)
Stones, Rocks, Lapidary, Masonry
Cultural Content, Credit: 

Jeff Haskett-Wood

Colors: 
black & white drawing (no color)
Shapes and Perspectives: 
3/4 view
facing left
Parts (compounds or simplex + notation): 
2
Reading Order (Compounds or Simplex + Notation): 
downward
Keywords: 

muerte, cráneo, calendario, nombres de días, obsidiana, nombres de hombres, men’s names, fonetismo

Glyph or Iconographic Image: 
Relevant Nahuatl Dictionary Word(s): 

miquiz(tli), death; mortality; also, a calendrical marker, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/miquiztli
itztli, obsidian blade, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/itztli

Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation: 

Muerte

Spanish Translation, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Image Source: 

Available at Codex Vergara, folio 45r, https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/btv1b84528032/f97.item.zoom, accessed 25 March 2026. The Vergara is associated with Tepetlaoztoc, in the larger region of Tetzcoco, c. 1539–1543. “Source gallica.bnf.fr / BnF.” We would also appreciate a citation to the Visual Lexicon of Aztec Hieroglyphs, https://aztecglyphs.wired-humanities.org/.

Image Source, Rights: 

Image Rights: The non-commercial reuse of images from the Bibliothèque nationale de France is free as long as the user is in compliance with the legislation in force and provides the citation: “Source gallica.bnf.fr / Bibliothèque nationale de France” or “Source gallica.bnf.fr / BnF.” We would also appreciate a citation to the Visual Lexicon of Aztec Hieroglyphs, https://aztecglyphs.wired-humanities.org/

Orthography: 
intrusive period
Historical Contextualizing Image: 
See Also: 

Miquiz (MH518r)

Miquiz (MH677v)

miquiztli (TR8r)