yaotl (MH485r)
This black and white drawing of the element carved from the personal name Yaoxochitl shows a war shield. The shield is rounded on the sides, but has depressions on the perimeter at top and bottom. The shield is divided into four sections with an X-shaped cross. Inside each section is what appears to be a u-shape.
Stephanie Wood
The man bearing the name Diego Yaoxochitl also has a baptismal name, Diego. Putting Yaoxochitl second to the baptismal name probably eventually led to it being seen as a surname (as a result of European influence).
This shield can be compared to other graphic styles from other tlacuilos, below. The chimalli, the typical autonomous-era shield, is more of a circle shape, and it could have feathers hanging off the bottom half. This crest may show some European influences.
Stephanie Wood
1560
Stephanie Wood
armas, shields, coats of arms
yao(tl), enemy, combatant, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/yaotl
el enemigo
Matrícula de Huexotzinco, folio 483r, World Digital Library, https://www.loc.gov/resource/gdcwdl.wdl_15282/?sp=45&st=image.
This manuscript is hosted by the Library of Congress and the World Digital Library; used here with the Creative Commons, “Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 License” (CC-BY-NC-SAq 3.0).
