Yaotl (Verg26v)

Yaotl (Verg26v)
Simplex Glyph

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description: 

This simplex Nahuatl hieroglyph is a black-line drawing of the personal name Yaotl (probably “Combatant”), attested here as a man’s name. It shows a war shield with a macuahuitl (obsidian-studded club) behind it, which combines as the symbol for warfare. The name Yaotl attests abundantly across regions. The design of this shield is especially notable for the way an earlier design has been turned into a happy face, with human eyes and, here, a mouth with teeth showing. Another Yaotl glyph from the Vergara is similar (see folio 11 recto), but the teeth are not demarcated. Yaotl glyphs from the Matrícula de Huexotzinco have different shields, such as a T-shaped cross and an X-shaped cross, or a turtle-shell pattern. The Yaotl signs from the Beinecke Map and the Codex Mendoza are more like this one, except that the round shield is blank.

Description, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis: 

The smiley-face shield may be a take-off on the cuexyo shield design. Is it an effort to make a possibly threatening name seem more benign? On the other hand, European crests sometimes had faces on them, so perhaps this was learned from colonial instructors. The Codex Azcatitlan (Library of Congress, Image #30) shows Pedro de Alvarado (“Tonatiuh”) carrying a shield with a face in profile. In the latter, the face of the sun may be implied, given the use of suns as a heraldic charge in medieval and Renaissance art. See, for example, the fifteenth-century Book of Hours in France. Faces on European shields can also represent Christ or saints.

Added Analysis, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Gloss or Text Image: 
Gloss/Text Diplomatic Transcription: 

jua.yāotl

Gloss/Text Normalization: 

Juan Yaotl

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
Syntax: 
noun(s)
Writing Features: 
simplex or element as logogram
fading tradition, or an effort to disguise?
Cultural Content & Iconography: 
Anatomy, human body parts
Emotions
Gender (male)
Names (personal and/or theonym)
War or Conflict
Weapons, Shields, Armor
Cultural Content, Credit: 

Jeff Haskett-Wood

Colors: 
black & white drawing (no color)
Shapes and Perspectives: 
circle, circular or rounded
frontal view
Keywords: 

guerrero, guerreros, combatientes, guerra, conflicto, conflictos, armas, escudo, escudos, nombres de hombres, men’s names

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

yao(tl), enemy, or combatant, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/yaotl

Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation: 

Combatiente

Spanish Translation, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Image Source: 

Available at Codex Vergara, folio 26v,
https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/btv1b84528032/f60.item.zoom, accessed 22 February 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: 
intrusive overbar
intrusive period
Historical Contextualizing Image: 
See Also: 

Yaotl (MH484v)

yaotl (MH485r)

Yaotl (MH638v)

Yaotl (BMapM86)

Yaotlan (Mdz46r)

cuexyo (Mdz49r)