quetzalli (FCbk11f204v)

quetzalli (FCbk11f204v)
Element from a Compound

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description:

This element of a compound hieroglyph, featuring two quetzal feathers (quetzalli), 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 on a page near the image in the Digital Florentine Codex. There is no gloss, per se. This example shows a black-line drawing of two long quetzal feathers in a horizontal position.

Description, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis:

This digital collection has many quetzal feathers, typically as elements in compound hieroglyphs of personal names and place names, for example, as shown below. The contextualizing image shows that these feathers are an “element” in what might be considered a compound hieroglyph for quetzalitztli, a reference to a green stone of some type. Alonso de Molina calls it an “esmeralda” (emerald), but the itztli in the name suggests it might be green obsidian. Another greenstone compound hieroglyph appears on folio 205 recto, where two horizontal quetzal feathers lie on top of the quetzalchalchihuitl stone.

Added Analysis, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Gloss or Text Image:

Gloss/Text Diplomatic Transcription:

quetzalli

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)

visual plural (multiples of objects)

Writing Features:

simplex or element as logogram

Cultural Content & Iconography:

Feathers

Stones, Rocks, Lapidary, Masonry

Cultural Content, Credit:

Jeff Haskett-Wood

Colors:

black & white drawing (no color)

Shapes and Perspectives:

horizontal

Keywords:

quetzales, plumas, verde, piedra, piedras, esmeraldas, obsidiana, feather, feathers, a favorite

Glyph or Iconographic Image:

Relevant Nahuatl Dictionary Word(s):

quetzal(li), quetzal feather, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/quetzalli

Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation:

la pluma del quetzal

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. 204v, Getty Research Institute, 2023. https://florentinecodex.getty.edu/en/book/11/folio/204v/images/0 Accessed 16 November 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: