Zacuan (Verg27r)

Zacuan (Verg27r)
Compound Glyph

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description: 

This compound Nahuatl hieroglyph is a black-line drawing of the personal name Zacuan (the name of a bird and attested here as a man’s name). It shows a vertical feather from this bird. The lower tip of the feather is going into a human mouth (or part of a face, including the chin and the mouth. This latter part is a phonetic complement to the -cua- part of the name, given that cua means “to eat.” Another example of this compound can be found on folio 28 verso.

Description, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis: 

Yellow zacuan feathers appear in a compound place name in the Codex Mendoza (f. 16r) and in a personal name or title in the Matrícula de Huexotzinco (f. 711v.). The colorful red and yellow bird also appears in the Florentine Codex. Another Zacuan in the Codex Vergara appears on f. 31v. It is much like this one.

Added Analysis, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Gloss or Text Image: 
Gloss/Text Diplomatic Transcription: 

mrs. çacuā

Gloss/Text Normalization: 

Marcos(?) Zacuan

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: cua (from eat or cuauhtli, eagle)
Writing Features: 
compound of phonogram(s) & logogram(s)
Cultural Content & Iconography: 
Anatomy, human body parts
Animals: Birds
Feathers
Food, Eating, Cooking
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): 
2
Reading Order (Compounds or Simplex + Notation): 
right to left
Keywords: 

pájaros, pluma, plumas amarillas, plumas rojas, comer, fonetismo, nombres de hombres, men’s names

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

zacuan, the Montezuma oropendula bird, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/zacuan

Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation: 

el pájaro oropendula de Montezuma

Spanish Translation, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Image Source: 

Available at Codex Vergara, folio 27r, https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/btv1b84528032/f61.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/

Historical Contextualizing Image: 
See Also: 

Zacuantepec (Mdz16r)

Zacuancalqui (MH711v)

zacuan (FCbk11f21r)