tlacuilolli (FCbk11f216r)

tlacuilolli (FCbk11f216r)
Simplex Glyph

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description:

This black-line drawing of an open book is apparently a simplex glyph that mirrors the term in the text, “in tlacuilolli” (a piece of writing). The parallel text in Spanish refers to “escrituras” (pieces of writing). This was also a loanword taken into Nahuatl. As shown, the book is open to about the middle, and three or more rows of squiggly lines on each of the two visible pages suggest either handwriting or typeface.

Description, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis:

The pre-contact book was screenfolded, so this type of book was a European colonial introduction. The many examples below of books show the wide array of Nahual terminology that could apply. Books often had associations with the Catholic church, as something priests might hold while giving mass or when instructing the doctrine. Or, church singers might hold books while they sang, for example. The paper could be European or Indigenous (amatl).

Added Analysis, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Gloss Image:

Gloss Diplomatic Transcription:

escrituras.

Gloss Normalization:

escrituras

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)

Writing Features:

simplex or element as logogram

Cultural Content & Iconography:

Paper

Writing, Literacy

Cultural Content, Credit:

Jeff Haskett-Wood

Colors:

black & white drawing (no color)

Shapes and Perspectives:

facing left

profile view

rectangular

Other Cultural Influences:

Spanish/European

Keywords:

escritura, libro, libros, papeles, psalterios, papel, cantores

Glyph or Iconographic Image:

Relevant Nahuatl Dictionary Word(s):

tlacuilol(li), anything written or painted, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/tlacuilolli
escritura (a loanword from Spanish taken into Nahuatl), a document, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/escritura

Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation:

la escritura

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. 216r, Getty Research Institute, 2023. https://florentinecodex.getty.edu/en/book/11/folio/216r/images/a43c572b-... Accessed 19 June 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: