motlatia (FCbk12f48r)

motlatia (FCbk12f48r)
Iconography

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description: 

This iconographic example, featuring a black and white sketch of Nahua men hiding (with the verb, motlatia) from Spanish invaders, 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 three Nahua men crouching behind stone nopales (tenopalli), agaves (metl), and a mound of earth (tlaltepehualli) to hide from a group of Spanish invaders on horseback. The Nahua men are wearing cloaks which they have pulled close around their bodies as they maneuver behind the cacti.

Description, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis: 

This is the first use of a visual for the verb motlatia in this digital collection, and there is nothing yet with which to compare it. But the collection does contain images of agaves and nopales, Spaniards, horses, and Nahua men wearing cloaks

Added Analysis, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Gloss or Text Image: 
Gloss/Text Diplomatic Transcription: 

motlatia

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: 
verb
Cultural Content & Iconography: 
Gender (male)
Landscape Features
Personality, Behavior
Plants, Flora
Race, Ethnicity, Identity, Othering
Textiles, Clothing, Hats, Regalia
War or Conflict
Cultural Content, Credit: 

Jeff Haskett-Wood

Colors: 
black & white drawing (no color)
Shapes and Perspectives: 
boxed in
shading and parallel line hatching
three-dimensionality
Other Cultural Influences: 
Spanish/European
Keywords: 

ocultar, encalomarse, cactos, nopales, magueyes, maguey, agave

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

motlatia, to hide, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/motlatia

Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation: 

esconderse

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 12: Conquest of Mexico", fol. 48r, Getty Research Institute, 2023. https://florentinecodex.getty.edu/en/book/12/folio/48r/images/0 Accessed 7 February 2026.

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: 
See Also: 

Tepetl Xoloc (FCbk12f48v)