ocuilin (Mdz34r)
This simplex glyph of a worm (ocuilin) is facing to our right, its body in the shape of an S. Its eye is yellow and its yellow tongue is protruding and bifurcated. It has two white fangs. Its lips are curled, the upper lip being much larger than the lower. Its body is sculpted or segmented .The center of the worm is a dark green, and the outer edges are a lighter green.
Stephanie Wood
This worm or caterpillar may be a silkworm. See Wikipedia for images of wild silk worms, which are green and segmented. Silk production was significant in early Mexico, and can still be found as a cottage industry in the Mixteca, state of Oaxaca. Here's a link to an image of a silkworm that shows a face and legs of a sort.
Stephanie Wood
by 1553 at the latest
Stephanie Wood
worms, gusanos, caterpillars, orugas
ocuil(in), worm, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/ocuilin
el gusano de seda, la oruga
Stephanie Wood
Codex Mendoza, folio 34 recto, https://digital.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/objects/2fea788e-2aa2-4f08-b6d9-648c00..., image 78 of 188.
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)
