tzanatl (FCbk11f53r)

tzanatl (FCbk11f53r)
Iconography

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description: 

This iconographic example, featuring the slender-billed grackle (tzanatl), is included in this digital collection for the purpose of making comparisons with related hieroglyphs. The term selected for this example comes from the Nahuatl text on the page following the image in the Digital Florentine Codex. There is no gloss, per se. This example shows a standing grackle, in profile, facing left, and another one in flight, with wings spread. This is a largely dark gray bird, perhaps with some white feathers in some places on its underside. The bird that is standing is set in a blue-green landscape, and this practice of grounding is a result of European artistic influences.

Description, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis: 

This digital collection includes (as of October 2025) one example of tzanatl feathers that were made into a ritual bib that ties around the neck and covers the chest.

Added Analysis, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Gloss or Text Image: 
Gloss/Text Diplomatic Transcription: 

Tzanatl

Gloss/Text Normalization: 

tzanatl

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)
Cultural Content & Iconography: 
Animals: Birds
Feathers
Cultural Content, Credit: 

Jeff Haskett-Wood

Colors: 
blue (turquoise)
gray
green (light)
Shapes and Perspectives: 
facing left
profile view
Other Cultural Influences: 
Spanish/European
Keywords: 

pájaro, pájaros, ave, aves, plumas, gris

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

tzana(tl), the slender-billed grackle, a bird, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/tzanatl

Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation: 

el zanate

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. 53r, Getty Research Institute, 2023. https://florentinecodex.getty.edu/en/book/11/folio/53r/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.”

Historical Contextualizing Image: 
See Also: 

Tzanaquen (MH632r)