Quetzalcoa (MH535v)

Quetzalcoa (MH535v)
Compound Glyph

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description: 

This black-line drawing of the compound glyph for the personal name Quetzalcoa (“Quetzal Feather Serpent,” attested here as a man’s name) shows a frontal view of an array of eight quetzal feathers emerging from behind a coiled serpent (in profile, facing right). The serpent's belly has some shading (three-dimensionality), its eye is open, and its bifurcated tongue is protruding.

Description, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis: 

The name Quetzalcoatl is especially famous globally as a major figure in Nahua religion. Interestingly, the name Ecatl (or Ehecatl) is much more common, as it is a day sign in the calendar, and Quetzalcoatl is not.

Added Analysis, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Gloss Image: 
Date of Manuscript: 

1560

Creator's Location (and place coverage): 

Huejotzingo, Puebla, Mexico

Semantic Categories: 
Syntax: 
Cultural Content, Credit: 

Jeff Haskett-Wood

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

deities, deidades, fuerza divina, divinidades, divinities, feathered serpent

Glyph or Iconographic Image: 
Relevant Nahuatl Dictionary Word(s): 
Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation: 

La Serpiente Emplumada

Spanish Translation, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Image Source: 
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: