coatl (Mdz34r)

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description: 

This element for a snake or serpent (coatl) has been carved from the compound sign for the place name, Coatepec. It is a partial snake, largely consisting of the head and a curving upper body. It is shown in profile, somewhat upright, facing toward the viewer's right. The body is brown shading toward a yellow/white on the belly. The underbelly is segmented. The eye is open, and the bifurcated (red) tongue protrudes. The base of the tongue has perpendicular lines. The tongue is reminiscent of a flame.

Description, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis: 

A wooden, turquoise-mosaic pectoral in the shape of a snake is held in the British Museum, whose curators have written: "The Mexica considered serpents to be powerful, multifaceted creatures that could bridge the spheres (the underworld, water and sky) owing to their physical and mythical characteristics." Besides being an animal that was common in the central highlands, the coatl is the name of the first day of a thirteen-day calendrical cycle.

Added Analysis, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Gloss Analysis, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Source Manuscript: 
Date of Manuscript: 

c. 1541, but by 1553 at the latest

Creator's Location (and place coverage): 

Mexico City

Semantic Categories: 
Syntax: 
Cultural Content, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Keywords: 

víboras, serpientes, culebras, cohuatl

Glyph or Iconographic Image: 
Relevant Nahuatl Dictionary Word(s): 
Additional Scholars' Interpretations: 

snake or serpent

Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation: 

el serpiente

Spanish Translation, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Image Source: 

Codex Mendoza, folio 34 recto, https://digital.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/objects/2fea788e-2aa2-4f08-b6d9-648c00..., image 78 of 188.

Image Source, Rights: 

The Bodleian Libraries, University of Oxford, hold the original manuscript, the MS. Arch. Selden. A. 1. This image is published here under the UK Creative Commons, “Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 License” (CC-BY-NC-SA 3.0).