Coatl (Verg8v)

Coatl (Verg8v)
Compound Glyph

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description: 

This black-line drawing of the compound glyph for the personal name Coatl (“Serpent,” attested here as a man’s name), also a day name, shows a ceramic pitcher (comitl) with water pouring off to the left from the top of the jug. The stream of water has four splashes, each one with a droplet/bead at the tip. It also has lines of current (movement). The jug has three handles and a flared neck.

Description, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis: 

Given the ecclesiastics' efforts to stifle Indigenous religious belief and practice, one might well wonder whether this fully phonetic compound intentionally replaces the well known sign of the serpent in favor of a jug of water, in order to disguise the on-going observation of naming children after the autonomous-era calendar days. The same question arises with the two glyphs for coatequitl; a single serpent would have been easier to draw than the jug and water in those cases, too.

Added Analysis, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Gloss Image: 
Gloss Diplomatic Transcription: 

juan. cohuatl

Gloss Normalization: 

Juan Coatl

Gloss Analysis, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Source Manuscript: 
Vergara, Codex (Verg)
Date of Manuscript: 

1539

Creator's Location (and place coverage): 

Tepetlaoztoc, near Tetzcoco

Semantic Categories: 
calendrics
day name
personal name
phonetic dimensions
Syntax: 
noun(s)
visible movement
Writing Features: 
compound fully phonographic
Cultural Content & Iconography: 
Animals, incl. Birds, Bugs, Insects, Reptiles, etc.
Ceramics, Pottery
Gender (male)
Movement
Names (personal and/or theonym)
Time, Calendar, Frequency
Water
Cultural Content, Credit: 

Jeff Haskett-Wood

Colors: 
black & white drawing (no color)
Shapes and Perspectives: 
circle(s) (small, often concentric)
circle, circular or rounded
frontal view
horizontal
spiky
vertical, upright
Parts (compounds or simplex + notation): 
2
Reading Order (Compounds or Simplex + Notation): 
upward
Keywords: 

serpientes, serpents, water, agua, cerámica, barro, ceramics, jugs, cantaros, pottery

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

coa(tl), serpent, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/coatl
a(tl), water, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/atl
co(mitl), ceramic jug, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/comitl

Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation: 

La Serpiente

Spanish Translation, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Image Source: 

Codex Vergara, folio 8v, https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/btv1b84528032/f24.item.zoom

Image Source, Rights: 

The non-commercial reuse of images from the Bibliothèque nationale de France is free as long as the user is in compliance with the legislation in force and provides the citation: “Source gallica.bnf.fr / Bibliothèque nationale de France” or “Source gallica.bnf.fr / BnF.” We would also appreciate a citation to the Visual Lexicon of Aztec Hieroglyphs, https://aztecglyphs.wired-humanities.org/.

Historical Contextualizing Image: 
See Also: 

coatequitl (Verg16r)

coatequitl (Verg8v)