Zayol (MH642v)

Zayol (MH642v)
Simplex Hieroglyph

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description: 

This drawing of the simplex glyph for the personal name Zayol ("Fly," attested here as a man's name) shows a black fly with two bent legs, two hatched wings, and two curling antennae.

Description, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis: 

The name Zayol shares something with the term for honey bee, necuzaolin.

Gloss or Text Image: 
Gloss/Text Diplomatic Transcription: 

juan çaol

Gloss/Text Normalization: 

Juan Zayol

Gloss/Text Analysis, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Source Manuscript: 
Huexotzinco, Matrícula de (MH)
Date of Manuscript: 

1560

Creator's Location (and place coverage): 

Huejotzingo, Puebla

Semantic Categories: 
personal name
Syntax: 
noun(s)
Writing Features: 
simplex or element as logogram
Cultural Content & Iconography: 
Animals: Insects/Bugs
Gender (male)
Names (personal and/or theonym)
Cultural Content, Credit: 

Jeff Haskett-Wood

Colors: 
black
white/neutral
Shapes and Perspectives: 
checked, cross-hatched, or mesh
facing right
profile view
spiraling, swirling, coiling, curling
Keywords: 

moscas, insectos, alas, nombres de hombres, Zaol, men's names

Museum/Rare Book/Realia Comparisons: 
Museum/Rare Book/Realia Notes: 

This contemporary print of a fly by a graphic artist by the name of Victoria (no date) provides considerable detail, similar to the level of detail sometimes found ij Nahuatl hieroglyphs of insects. Oaxaca print workshop. Photo by S. Wood, 27 January 2026.

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

zayol(in), a fly, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/zayolin
necuzaol(in), a honey bee, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/necuzaolin

Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation: 

Abeja

Spanish Translation, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Image Source: 

Matrícula de Huexotzinco, folio 642v, World Digital Library, https://www.loc.gov/resource/gdcwdl.wdl_15282/?sp=367&st=image

Image Source, Rights: 

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).

Orthography: 
"ç" for z or tz
dropped "y"
Historical Contextualizing Image: 
See Also: 

Zayol (MH641v)

Zayol (Verg26v)

Zayol (Verg27v)