xiuhtli (TR39v)

xiuhtli (TR39v)
Simplex Glyph

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description: 

This colorful painting of the simplex glyph of a comet (glossed as "cometa," as seen in the contextualizing image) is a serpent in profile, facing toward the viewer's left. It has multicolored stripes on an undulating body, and its mouth is open.

Description, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis: 

We have named this glyph xiuhtli based on the Spanish-language gloss, even though we do not have a Nahuatl gloss that confirms this label. See other examples of comets below. Some may suggest serpents, too. Other comets are shown as turquoise (xihuitl) tesserae, mosaic pieces.

This popular name, Xiuhtli, is linked to the religious calendar of years, because it was a name given to boys born during the time of the binding ceremony at the end of every fifty-two year cycle. Given that both xiuhtli (comet) and xihuitl (year, turquoise, etc.) have the same stem (xiuh-) it makes sense that the iconography will overlap.

Added Analysis, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Source Manuscript: 
Telleriano-Remensis, Codex (TR)
Date of Manuscript: 

ca. 1550–1563

Creator's Location (and place coverage): 

Mexico City

Semantic Categories: 
calendrics
Syntax: 
noun(s)
Writing Features: 
simplex or element as logogram
Cultural Content & Iconography: 
Animals, incl. Birds, Bugs, Insects, Reptiles, etc.
Celestial Phenomena
Mouth/Beak Open
Religion (Indigenous)
Time, Calendar, Frequency
Cultural Content, Credit: 

Jeff Haskett-Wood

Colors: 
blue (turquoise)
pink
red
yellow or golden
Shapes and Perspectives: 
curving, curvy, curved
facing left
horizontal
profile view
spiky
striped
wavy
Keywords: 

comets, cometas, serpientes, serpents

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

xiuh(tli), comet, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/xiuhtli

Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation: 

el cometa

Spanish Translation, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Image Source: 

Telleriano-Remensis Codex, folio 39 recto, MS Mexicain 385, Gallica digital collection, https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/btv1b8458267s/f104.item.zoom

Image Source, Rights: 

The non-commercial reuse of images from the Bibliothèque nationale de France is free as long as the user is in compliance with the legislation in force and provides the citation: “Source gallica.bnf.fr / Bibliothèque nationale de France” or “Source gallica.bnf.fr / BnF.”

Historical Contextualizing Image: 
See Also: 

Xiuhtli (MH576v)

Xiuhtli (MH577r)

Xiuhtli (Verg9r)

Xiuhtli (MH619v)

Xiuhtli (MH775r)