Quiyauh (Verg44r)

Quiyauh (Verg44r)
Simplex Glyph

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description: 

This simplex Nahuatl hieroglyph is a black-line drawing of the personal name Quiyauh (“Rain,” apocopated from quiyahuitl), attested here as a man’s name. It shows three short streams of water, each one with a line of current down the middle and a droplet or bead at the lower tip. The outer lines are especially wavy. The current and the wavy lines give the water a sense of motion.

Description, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis: 

The lines on these streams of water are wavier than most others, but otherwise this hieroglyph for rain is fairly standard across various manuscripts. Another one that stands out as somewhat different is the one from the Beinecke Map, which has the three streams separated by a dot. As examples below will show, many long drips of rainwater are painted turquoise blue.

Added Analysis, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Gloss or Text Image: 
Gloss/Text Diplomatic Transcription: 

Juā. quiauh.

Gloss/Text Normalization: 

Juan Quiyauh

Gloss/Text Analysis, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Source Manuscript: 
Vergara, Codex (Verg)
Date of Manuscript: 

1539

Creator's Location (and place coverage): 

near Tepetlaoztoc, near Tetzcoco

Semantic Categories: 
personal name
Syntax: 
noun(s)
Writing Features: 
simplex or element as logogram
Cultural Content & Iconography: 
Gender (male)
Movement
Names (personal and/or theonym)
Water
Cultural Content, Credit: 

Jeff Haskett-Wood

Colors: 
black & white drawing (no color)
Shapes and Perspectives: 
circle(s) (small, often concentric)
frontal view
tripartite
Keywords: 

agua, movimiento, nombres de hombres, men’s names

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

quiyahui(tl), rain, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/quiyahuitl

Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation: 

Lluvia

Spanish Translation, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Image Source: 

Available at Codex Vergara, folio 44r, https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/btv1b84528032/f95.item.zoom, accessed 25 March 2026. The Vergara is associated with Tepetlaoztoc, in the larger region of Tetzcoco, c. 1539–1543. “Source gallica.bnf.fr / BnF.” We would also appreciate a citation to the Visual Lexicon of Aztec Hieroglyphs, https://aztecglyphs.wired-humanities.org/.

Image Source, Rights: 

Image Rights: The non-commercial reuse of images from the Bibliothèque nationale de France is free as long as the user is in compliance with the legislation in force and provides the citation: “Source gallica.bnf.fr / Bibliothèque nationale de France” or “Source gallica.bnf.fr / BnF.” We would also appreciate a citation to the Visual Lexicon of Aztec Hieroglyphs, https://aztecglyphs.wired-humanities.org/

Orthography: 
dropped "y"
intrusive period
Historical Contextualizing Image: 
See Also: 

quiyahuitl (Mdz8r)

quiyahuitl (Mdz40r)

Quiyauh (MH498r)

Quiyauh (BMapF27)