papalotl (FCbk11f100r)

papalotl (FCbk11f100r)
Iconography

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description:

This iconographic example, featuring a butterfly (papalotl), 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 gray, red, and yellow butterfly (papalotl). The contextualizing image has another papalotl with the same coloring, but a slightly different design. The two butterflies are placed in a landscape setting, which suggests European artistic influence. Note how the Hispanized version of this term, papalote, does not mean butterfly, but rather kite.

Description, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis:

The name Papalotl was a popular one in Huexotzinco. One of the notable features of the glyphs of the butterfly is the emphasis on the curling proboscis, not that all have this. The papalotl also appears in various compound hieroglyphs, such as Ecapapalotl, Itzpapalotl, and Tlepapalotl, all of which can be seen with a Quick Search of papalotl.

Added Analysis, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Gloss or Text Image:

Gloss/Text Diplomatic Transcription:

papalotl

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:

Animals: Insects & Bugs

Cultural Content, Credit:

Jeff Haskett-Wood

Colors:

gray

red

yellow or golden

Shapes and Perspectives:

frontal view

spiraling, swirling, coiling, curling

spotted or mottled

striped

Keywords:

mariposas, alas, volar

Glyph or Iconographic Image:

Relevant Nahuatl Dictionary Word(s):

papalo(tl), butterfly, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/papalotl

Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation:

la mariposa

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. 100r, Getty Research Institute, 2023. https://florentinecodex.getty.edu/en/book/11/folio/100r/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: