xoloitzcuintli (FCbk11f17r)

xoloitzcuintli (FCbk11f17r)
Iconography

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description:

This iconographic example, featuring a dog (xoloitzcuintli), is included in this digital collection for the purpose of making comparisons with related hieroglyphs. The term selected for this example comes from the text near the image in the Digital Florentine Codex. There is no gloss, per se. This example shows a short-legged dog in profile, running toward the viewer’s right. It has pink or red on its back and pink spots on its sides. It does not appear to be a dark gray hairless dog, which is what Wikipedia shows for the xoloitzcuintli breed.

Description, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis:

In this collection, there are two relevant comparisons. One is the group of hieroglyphs and iconographic examples that show the itzcuintli dog, and the other group refers to Xolotl (an ancestor and deity-like figure) which also appears to be a dog or have canine qualities. One itzcuintli is white with black spots, echoing the chichi (and both come from the Codex Mendoza). Note the interesting calligraphy in the uppercase X of the term, xoloitzcuintli, with its crossbar.

Added Analysis, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Gloss Image:

Gloss Diplomatic Transcription:

Xoloitzcuintli

Gloss Normalization:

xoloitzcuintli

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)

Cultural Content & Iconography:

Animals: Misc.

Movement

Cultural Content, Credit:

Jeff Haskett-Wood

Colors:

pink

red

white/neutral

Shapes and Perspectives:

facing right

profile view

spiraling, swirling, coiling, curling

spotted or mottled

Keywords:

perros, animales

Glyph or Iconographic Image:

Relevant Nahuatl Dictionary Word(s):

xoloitzcuin(tli), https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/xoloitzcuintli

Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation:

una raza de perro autóctona

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. 17r., Getty Research Institute, 2023. https://florentinecodex.getty.edu/en/book/11/folio/17r/images/0 Accessed 7 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: