quetzalcoatl (FCbk11f89v)

quetzalcoatl (FCbk11f89v)
Iconography

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description:

This iconographic example, featuring a snake called quetzalcoatl, is included in this digital collection for the purpose of making comparisons with related hieroglyphs. The term selected for this example comes from the page prior to the image in the Digital Florentine Codex. There is no gloss, per se. This example shows a dragon-like serpent in multiple colors (gray, red, green, and yellow). It has many feathers on the back of its neck and all down its spine. It is undulating and has a hint of a rattler tail. Its mouth is open, and its red, bifurcated tongue protrudes. The contextualizing image shows this snake or serpent in a landscape. The landscape setting for these creatures shows European artistic influence. The text describes the snake as deadly poisonous, adding that after biting someone, the snake also dies.

Description, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis:

This digital collection mainly has glyphs for the personal name, Quetzalcoatl, rather than the deity name, and none of the snake. Iconographic examples show two images of the divine force and one of a high priest. One can do a Quick Search for quetzalcoatl to see all examples.

Added Analysis, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Gloss or Text Image:

Gloss/Text Diplomatic Transcription:

Quetzalcooatl

Gloss/Text Normalization:

quetzalcoatl

Gloss/Text Analysis, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Source Manuscript:

Florentine/Florentinus, Codex (FC)

Date of Manuscript:

1577

Creator's Location (and place coverage):

Mexico City

Semantic Categories:

deity name/theonym

Syntax:

noun(s)

Cultural Content & Iconography:

Animals: Reptiles

Feathers

Mouth/Beak Open

Tongue Protruding/Noticeable

Cultural Content, Credit:

Jeff Haskett-Wood

Colors:

Shapes and Perspectives:

bifurcated

facing right

profile view

Other Cultural Influences:

Spanish/European

Keywords:

Quetzalcohuatl, feathers, plumas, crótalos, serpientes emplumadas

Glyph or Iconographic Image:

Relevant Nahuatl Dictionary Word(s):

quetzalcoa(tl), a type of snake, a personal name, and a deity name, a name for a high priest, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/quetzalcoatl

Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation:

la serpiente emplumada

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. 89v, Getty Research Institute, 2023. https://florentinecodex.getty.edu/en/book/11/folio/89v/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.”

Orthography:

intrusive "o"

Historical Contextualizing Image: