Xopan (Verg46r)

Xopan (Verg46r)
Compound Glyph

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description: 

This compound Nahuatl hieroglyph is a black-line drawing of the personal name Xopan (“Growing Season”), attested here as a man’s name. The compound has two elements. One is a partial leg with a foot, providing the phonetic syllable at the start of the name (Xo-). The other 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 flag appears to have two streamers hanging down from the bottom of the flag staff.

Description, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis: 

This is a fully phonetic compound. 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. Another Xopan hieroglyph in this collection, which also comes from the Codex Vergara (folio 40 verso), might also have a streamer hanging down from the flag staff. But that one is less obvious, as can be seen below.

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)
Writing Features: 
compound fully phonographic
Cultural Content & Iconography: 
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)
Parts (compounds or simplex + notation): 
2
Reading Order (Compounds or Simplex + Notation): 
upward
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/x
pam(itl), flag,https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/pamitl

Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation: 

Temporada de Crecimiento

Spanish Translation, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Image Source: 

Available at Codex Vergara, folio 46r, https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/btv1b84528032/f99.item.zoom, accessed 25 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: 

Xopan (Verg40v)

Xopanatl (MH812v)

Xopanazcatl (MH659r)

Xopanteotl (MH771r)