teocuitlahua (FCbk10f16r)

teocuitlahua (FCbk10f16r)
Iconography

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description:

This iconographic example, featuring a goldworker (teocuitlahua), is included in this digital collection for the purpose of making possible 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 man in a profile view, facing left. He has a large red horn-like instrument through which he is blowing upon some gold nuggets on a fire. A large smoke curl or volute rises from the flames from the fire that contains the gold. The man’s purpose is to melt the gold and then cast it.

Description, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis:

See two other examples, below, which suggests that the melting of gold for recasting was a likely activity.

Added Analysis, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Gloss Image:

Gloss Diplomatic Transcription:

teucuitlaoa

Gloss Normalization:

teocuitlahua

Gloss 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:

Gender (male)

Metals, Minerals, Mining

Occupations

Technology (all types), plus Tools

Cultural Content, Credit:

Jeff Haskett-Wood

Colors:

Shapes and Perspectives:

facing left

profile view

shading and parallel line hatching

volute(s)

Keywords:

oro, metales, fundición, fundir, volutas

Glyph or Iconographic Image:

Relevant Nahuatl Dictionary Word(s):

teocuitlahua, a goldworker, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/teocuitlahua

Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation:

el orbefre

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 10: The People", fol. 16r, Getty Research Institute, 2023. https://florentinecodex.getty.edu/en/book/10/folio/16r/images/c86f63e1-5... Accessed 5 September 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:

"u" for o

Historical Contextualizing Image: