Zorita (Osu16v)

This simplex glyph for the surname of a Spanish colonial magistrate, Zorita, consists of the head of a quail (zolin) in profile, looking toward the viewer’s right. This is a phonetic indicator for the “Zor-” start to the name. This is from the Codex Osuna (f. 16v.), and this manuscript gives a number of Spanish colonial officials hieroglyphic renditions of their names. Dr. Alonso de Zorita, a magistrate of the Audiencia from 1556 to 1564, is shown in the contextualizing image as a person in a full set of dark clothing and a hat, seated in profile, in a curule chair, facing toward the viewer’s right. On this same folio one can see indications of the labor that was provided to him in the way of fodder for his horses, one “indio” to bring him water and one to come and sweep. The value of such products and services is also spelled out on the page in pesos and tomines (colonial coin).