mizquitl (FCbk11f124r)

mizquitl (FCbk11f124r)
Iconography

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description:

This iconographic example, featuring a mezquite tree (mizquitl), 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 frontal view of a tree with green foliage. The text of the DFC explains that these leaves are used for making medicinal eye drops. The tree also has clusters of bean-like seed pods in yellow and green. These are sweet and edible. The landscape setting and three-dimensionality provided by shading show European artistic influences on this painting.

Description, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis:

The DFC also explains (on a different page; see our Online Nahuatl Dictionary) how the trunk of the mizquitl can be bent into a circle, and the Mizquiyahuallan hieroglyph shows that very effectively. The clusters of seed pods tend to be a lovely red and/or yellow color. Hieroglyphs of the mizquitl typically appear in place names, sometimes as compounds. Examples are Mizquic, Mizquipolco, Mizquitlan, Mizquiyahuallan, and ethnicities such as Mizquipolcatl. The collection also has one personal name, Mizquixoch, which pertained to a Nahua woman.

Added Analysis, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Gloss or Text Image:

Gloss/Text Diplomatic Transcription:

Mizquitl

Gloss/Text Normalization:

mizquitl

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:

Food, Eating, Cooking

Health, Medicine

Plants, Flora

Cultural Content, Credit:

Jeff Haskett-Wood

Colors:

green (light)

yellow or golden

Shapes and Perspectives:

frontal view

shading and parallel line hatching

three-dimensionality

Other Cultural Influences:

Spanish/European

Keywords:

árbol, árboles, arbusto, arbustos, planta, plantas, medicinas, ojos, comida

Glyph or Iconographic Image:

Relevant Nahuatl Dictionary Word(s):

mizqui(tl), the mezquite tree, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/mizquitl

Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation:

el mezquite

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. 124r, Getty Research Institute, 2023. https://florentinecodex.getty.edu/en/book/11/folio/124r/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: