peon (Osu15r)

peon (Osu15r)
Iconography

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description: 

This example of iconography, included here for potential comparisons with glyphs, comes from the Codex Osuna, folio 15 recto (or Image 32). It shows what is glossed as a peón (a day laborer, in a loanword from Spanish). It is a Nahua man shown in profile, facing toward the viewer’s right. His extends his right arm, and he is holding a huictli (agricultural tool) in it. The term huictli is not provided on this page; we are supplying the term based on comparisons with other such tools.

Description, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis: 

The tool this man holds is emblematic of farm labor, of agricultural work. For example, the glyph for farm laborer, tlaquehual, is simply this tool. A person simply holding the huictli is assumed to be an agricultural laborer.

Added Analysis, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Gloss Image: 
Source Manuscript: 
Osuna, Codex (Osu)
Date of Manuscript: 

1551–1565

Creator's Location (and place coverage): 

Mexico City

Syntax: 
noun(s)
Cultural Content & Iconography: 
Agriculture, Gardens, Stockraising
Gender (male)
Labor Issues
Technology (all types), plus Tools
Cultural Content, Credit: 

Jeff Haskett-Wood

Colors: 
black
brown
tan
white/neutral
Shapes and Perspectives: 
facing right
profile view
Keywords: 

peones, trabajo, agricultura, herramientas, tecnología

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

peón, day laborer (a loan from Spanish into Nahuatl), https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/pe%C3%B3n

Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation: 

el peón

Spanish Translation, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Image Source: 

Library of Congress Online Catalog and the World Digital Library, Osuna Codex, or Painting of the Governor, Mayors, and Rulers of Mexico (Pintura del Gobernador, Alcaldes y Regidores de México), https://www.loc.gov/resource/gdcwdl.wdl_07324/. The original is located in the Biblioteca Nacional de España.

Image Source, Rights: 

"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." But please cite the Biblioteca Nacional de España and this Visual Lexicon of Aztec Hieroglyphs if you use any of these images here or refer to the content on this page, providing the URL.

Historical Contextualizing Image: 
See Also: 

Tlaquehual (MH733v)

huictli (Verg10v)

huictli (MH642v)

Mimil (MH545r)

Tehuic (MH563r)