Coatl (MH484v)

Coatl (MH484v)
Simplex Glyph

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description: 

This simples glyph stands for the personal name Coatl (serpent or snake). In this black line drawing, the snake is shown stretched out horizontally and in profile, looking to the viewer's right. Its forked tongue protrudes. One eye is visible. It also has spots. No rattles are visible.

Description, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis: 

This day sign, coatl, comes from the tonalpohualli, the 260-day divinatory calendar. Calendrics figure importantly in Nahuas' religious views of the cosmos. Men, especially, seem to have carried this name. 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."

Added Analysis, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Gloss Image: 
Gloss Diplomatic Transcription: 

antonio couatl

Gloss Normalization: 

Antonio Coatl

Gloss Analysis, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Source Manuscript: 
Mendoza/Mendocino, Codex (Mdz)
Date of Manuscript: 

1560

Creator's Location (and place coverage): 

Huejotzingo, Puebla

Semantic Categories: 
calendrics
personal name
Syntax: 
noun(s)
Cultural Content & Iconography: 
Animals, incl. Birds, Bugs, Insects, Reptiles, etc.
Gender (male)
Names (personal and/or theonym)
Time, Calendar, Frequency
Cultural Content, Credit: 

Xitlali Torres

Colors: 
black
black & white drawing (no color)
Shapes and Perspectives: 
profile view
horizontal
facing right
Keywords: 

snakes, serpents, serpientes, víboras, cohuatl

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

coa(tl), snake, serpent, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/coatl

Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation: 

El Serpiente

Spanish Translation, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Image Source: 

Matrícula de Huexotzinco, folio 484v, World Digital Library, https://www.loc.gov/resource/gdcwdl.wdl_15282/?sp=48&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).

Historical Contextualizing Image: