cuacuahuitl (MH485r)

These horns were frequently associated with oxen, bulls, and cows. Cattle, which roamed fairly freely in the sixteenth century, devouring maize fields, were well known to Nahuas. This consumption or eating is perhaps incidentally reflected in the name they were given, which has cua, to eat, reduplicated. In European culture, cows are known for "chewing their cud." There is also a worm, the ocuilin cuacuahue. The definition from Alonso de Molina emphasizes its "little horns" or "feelers" (cuernezillos in Spanish), rather than its tendency to eat a lot. See our Online Nahuatl Dictionary. Juan José Batalla Rosado (El Arte de Escribir, 2018, 76) includes the cuacuahuitl ("cuerno de animal") in his list of visual loans. He finds the Matrícula de Huexotzinco to show the greatest degree of Western influence of all colonial codices.