Xopan (Verg40v)

Xopan (Verg40v)
Compound Glyph

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description: 

This compound Nahuatl hieroglyph is a black-line drawing of the personal name Xopan (“Growing Season”), which is attested here as a man’s name. The compound has three elements. One is a leg with a foot, providing the phonetic syllable at the start of the name (Xo-). Another is a flag (pamitl, as spelled in the northern and eastern flanks of the Valley of Mexico), which provides the phonetic syllable -pan at the end of the name. The third element is something hanging down on the left side, perhaps a streamer that comes off the flag staff (see other Xopan examples for comparison). The streamers are clearer in the Xopan glyph that appears on folio 53 recto of this same manuscript.

Description, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis: 

This may be a fully phonetic compound, pending the decipherment of the third element. With the two elements already identified, it is already fully phonetic, but the third element may end up being logographic and semantic. This digital collection has three men’s names that include the expression Xopan (“Growing Season”), and which may refer to the growing phase of children and animals, in addition to agricultural crops. One name, Xopanatl, may refer to the water necessary for plant growth. Xopanteotl may show recognition and reverence for the divine rains that sustain life.

Added Analysis, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Gloss or Text Image: 
Gloss/Text Diplomatic Transcription: 

thomas. xopan.

Gloss/Text Normalization: 

Tomás Xopan

Gloss/Text Analysis, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Source Manuscript: 
Vergara, Codex (Verg)
Date of Manuscript: 

1539

Creator's Location (and place coverage): 

near Tepetlaoztoc, near Tetzcoco

Semantic Categories: 
personal name
phonetic dimensions
Syntax: 
noun(s)
syllable: pa/pan/pal (from panitl/pamitl, flag)
syllable: xo (from foot-related)
Writing Features: 
compound fully logographic
Cultural Content & Iconography: 
Agriculture, Gardens, Stock Raising
Anatomy, human body parts
Flags, banners
Gender (male)
Names (personal and/or theonym)
Cultural Content, Credit: 

Jeff Haskett-Wood

Colors: 
black & white drawing (no color)
Shapes and Perspectives: 
facing right
profile view
Parts (compounds or simplex + notation): 
3
Reading Order (Compounds or Simplex + Notation): 
undetermined as yet
Keywords: 

agricultura, pie, pies, anatomía, pierna, piernas, bandera, banderas, nombres de hombres, men’s names, fonetismo

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

xopan, in the growing season, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/xopan
xo-, related to the foot, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/xo
pam(itl), a flag, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/panitl

Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation: 

Temporada de Crecimiento

Spanish Translation, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Image Source: 

Available at Codex Vergara, folio 40v, https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/btv1b84528032/f88.item.zoom, accessed 14 March 2026. The Vergara is associated with Tepetlaoztoc, in the larger region of Tetzcoco, c. 1539–1543. “Source gallica.bnf.fr / BnF.” We would also appreciate a citation to the Visual Lexicon of Aztec Hieroglyphs, https://aztecglyphs.wired-humanities.org/.

Image Source, Rights: 

Image 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.” We would also appreciate a citation to the Visual Lexicon of Aztec Hieroglyphs, https://aztecglyphs.wired-humanities.org/

Orthography: 
"th" for t, d, or gd
intrusive period
Historical Contextualizing Image: 
See Also: 

Xopanatl (MH812v)

Xopanazcatl (MH659r)

Xopanteotl (MH771r)