Itzcoatzin (Mdz5v)

Itzcoatzin (Mdz5v)
Compound Glyph

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description: 

This compound glyph for the personal name Itzcoatl (or Itzcoatzin, in the reverential) includes two prominent elements. One is a red and yellow serpent (coatl) with an unusual shape, curving at the bottom but with a rectangular coil at the top. The serpent's head appears where these two sections meet. It is shown in profile, looking to the viewer's right. Its orange-colored eye is open, and a bifurcated, yellow-and-white tongue emerges from its mouth along with red and white fangs. The bending yellow serpent body (or other shape) has 15 obsidian points (itztli), fairly evenly spaced on its upper edge.

Description, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Gloss Image: 
Gloss Diplomatic Transcription: 

yzcoaçi

Gloss Normalization: 

Itzcoatzin (or Itzcoatl)

Source Manuscript: 
Date of Manuscript: 

c. 1541, but by 1553 at the latest

Creator's Location (and place coverage): 

Mexico City

Semantic Categories: 
Syntax: 
Parts (compounds or simplex + notation): 
Reading Order (Compounds or Simplex + Notation): 
Keywords: 

rulers, gobernantes, Mexica, obsidiana, piedras, navajas, cuchillos, serpientes, culebras, víboras, serpents, snakes, knives, flints, points, puntas, nombres de hombres, cohuatl

Glyph or Iconographic Image: 
Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation: 

Serpiente de Obsidiana, o Navaja-Culebra

Spanish Translation, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Image Source: 
Image Source, Rights: 

Original manuscript is held by the Bodleian Libraries, University of Oxford, MS. Arch. Selden. A. 1; used here with the UK Creative Commons, “Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 License” (CC-BY-NC-SA 3.0)