molotl (Mdz23r)

molotl (Mdz23r)
Simplex Glyph

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description: 

This simplex glyph for molotl) (house finch) doubles as the place name, Molotla. The finch, facing to our right in profile, has light orange and gray-brown stripes and a bright red patch on the top of its head.

Description, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis: 

The common house finch can also have a red breast, but the red head is emphasized here. The red head also gives it the name cuachichil in the Florentine Codex (see Book XI). The red feathers likely drew attention to it.

Added Analysis, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Gloss Analysis, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Source Manuscript: 
Mendoza/Mendocino, Codex (Mdz)
Date of Manuscript: 

c. 1541, but by 1553 at the latest

Creator's Location (and place coverage): 

Mexico City

Syntax: 
noun(s)
Cultural Content & Iconography: 
Animals, incl. Birds, Bugs, Insects, Reptiles, etc.
Feathers
Cultural Content, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Shapes and Perspectives: 
facing right
profile view
striped
Keywords: 

birds, feathers, plumas, colors

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

molo(tl), a common house finch, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/molotl

Additional Scholars' Interpretations: 

finch

Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation: 

gorrión

Spanish Translation, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Image Source: 

Codex Mendoza, folio 23 recto, https://digital.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/objects/2fea788e-2aa2-4f08-b6d9-648c00..., image 56 of 188.

Image Source, Rights: 

The Bodleian Libraries, University of Oxford, hold the original manuscript, the MS. Arch. Selden. A. 1. This image is published here under the UK Creative Commons, “Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 License” (CC-BY-NC-SA 3.0).

See Also: 

Molotla (Mdz23r)