xicalcoatl (FCbk11f90r)

xicalcoatl (FCbk11f90r)
Compound Glyph

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description:

This compound glyph, featuring a certain snake (xicalcoatl) shows a serpent (coatl) swimming in water, and it has a xicalli (gourd vessel) on its back. The xicalli is there to help tell the name of the snake, which is why we are calling this a compound hieroglyph. The gourd is painted red, yellow, blue, and green. The snake is shown in profile, facing toward the viewer’s right. It is white on its belly, dark gray on its back, and it is covered with scales. Its bifurcated tongue protrudes. The water does not play a role in this compound, but since it covers part of the body of the snake, it has been left in. The water has five swirls (or whirlpools), and lines of current (suggesting movement).

Description, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis:

The xicalli may well serve as a phonetic indicator. Any semantic connection is unclear.

Added Analysis, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Gloss or Text Image:

Gloss/Text Diplomatic Transcription:

xicalcooatl

Gloss/Text Normalization:

xicalcoatl

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)

visual movement

Writing Features:

compound of phonogram(s) & logogram(s)

Cultural Content & Iconography:

Animals: Reptiles

Containers, Dishes, Eating Utensils

Tongue Protruding/Noticeable

Cultural Content, Credit:

Jeff Haskett-Wood

Colors:

Shapes and Perspectives:

bifurcated

facing right

profile view

spiraling, swirling, coiling, curling

Parts (compounds or simplex + notation):

Reading Order (Compounds or Simplex + Notation):

downward

Keywords:

jícaras, serpientes, culebra, culebras, víbora, víboras, snakes, serpents, bowls, dishes, cups, polychrome

Glyph or Iconographic Image:

Relevant Nahuatl Dictionary Word(s):

xicalcoa(tl), a type of snake, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/xicalcoatl
xical(li), a jícara, a gourd vessel, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/xicalli

Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation:

un tipo de serpiente

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. 90r, Getty Research Institute, 2023. https://florentinecodex.getty.edu/en/book/11/folio/90r/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.”

Orthography:

intrusive "o"

Historical Contextualizing Image: