Mixcoatl (MH486v)
This black-line drawing of the compound glyph for the personal name Mixcoatl ("Cloud Serpent," attested here as a man's name) has two elements, a small cluster of what are probably meant to be clouds (mixtli) at the top and a serpent (coatl) shown in profile, facing toward the viewer's right. The one visible eye is open, and the forked (bifurcated) tongue is protruding. The snake's body has one loop in the middle, in a semi-coil.
Stephanie Wood
In some glyphs from this manuscript, the clouds are easier to see as such (see one example below). In two examples, however, the clouds almost look like wings on the serpent.
Cloud Serpent was a popular name for Nahua men, especially notable in the Matrícula de Huexotzinco. According to Sahagún, it was a divine force among the Chichimecs, and carried a powerful significance for the Nahuas. Some scholars have seen it as a divinity associated with hunting, others as part of a Tlaloc complex (of clouds, rain, lightning, etc.), and others as a symbol for a whirlwind (remolino).
Stephanie Wood
diego miscovatl
Diego Mixcoatl
Stephanie Wood
1569
Xitlali Torres and Stephanie Wood
clouds, nubes, serpents, serpientes, snakes, deities, deidades, Chichimecas, cohuatl
Mixcoatl, a divine force, "Cloud Serpent," which originated with the Chichimeca, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/mixcoatl.
Serpiente de las Nubes
Stephanie Wood
Matrícula de Huexotzinco, folio 486v, World Digital Library, https://www.loc.gov/resource/gdcwdl.wdl_15282/?sp=52&st=image.
This manuscript is hosted by the Library of Congress and the World Digital Library; used here with the Creative Commons, “Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 License” (CC-BY-NC-SAq 3.0).
