Tzinacantlan (FCbk9f18v)

Tzinacantlan (FCbk9f18v)
Simplex Glyph

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description:

This simplex hieroglyph, featuring a full-bodied bat (tzinacantli), standing in profile and facing left, stands for the place name Tzinacantlan. The term selected for this example comes from the text on the same page and from the keywords chosen by the team behind the Digital Florentine Codex. The animal is squatting somewhat on its haunches, its front legs raised, and its wings open. The tongue is visible and red.

Description, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis:

Other bats in this collection are typically shown in profile, but one, from the Tierras collection, appears in a frontal view.

Added Analysis, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Gloss Image:

Gloss Diplomatic Transcription:

tzinacantlan

Source Manuscript:

Florentine/Florentinus, Codex (FC)

Date of Manuscript:

1577

Creator's Location (and place coverage):

Mexico City

Semantic Categories:

place name

Syntax:

noun(s)

Writing Features:

simplex or element as logogram

Cultural Content & Iconography:

Animals: Misc.

Names (places)

Tongue Protruding/Noticeable

Cultural Content, Credit:

Jeff Haskett-Wood

Colors:

brown

red

Shapes and Perspectives:

facing left

profile view

Keywords:

animales nocturnos, alas, lengua roja, muerden

Glyph or Iconographic Image:

Relevant Nahuatl Dictionary Word(s):

tzinacan(tli), a bat, a biting bat, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/tzinacantli

Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation:

Cerca de los Murciélagos

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 9: The Merchants", fol. 18v, Getty Research Institute, 2023. https://florentinecodex.getty.edu/en/book/9/folio/18v/images/0 Accessed 28 August 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: