tonatiuh cualo (TR37r)

tonatiuh cualo (TR37r)
Simplex Glyph

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description:

This simplex glyph shows the sun (tonatiuh) with a wedge missing, something like a pie where a piece has been eaten. An eclipse was usually called "tonatiuh cualo," literally, the sun is eaten, but indicating that part of it has gone dark. The sun here is much like the sun in the Codex Mendoza, with its quincunx shape, detailed design, and multiple colors. The gloss clarifies that this glyph represents an eclipse.

Description, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis:

See other examples of eclipses, below. One has the missing part darkened. But the missing wedge here might also be a way of indicating it was partially eaten. Consider the possible eclipse in the Codex Azcatitlan, where a serpent appears to be devouring a wedge shape of the sun.

Added Analysis, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Gloss Image:

Gloss Diplomatic Transcription:

eclise del sol

Gloss Normalization:

eclipse del sol

Gloss Analysis, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Source Manuscript:

Telleriano-Remensis, Codex (TR)

Date of Manuscript:

1578

Creator's Location (and place coverage):

Huejotzingo, Puebla, Mexico

Syntax:

noun(s)

phrase or sentence

verb

Cultural Content & Iconography:

Celestial Phenomena

Cultural Content, Credit:

Jeff Haskett-Wood

Colors:

Shapes and Perspectives:

circle(s) (small, often concentric)

circle, circular or rounded

frontal view

pointed (see also spiky)

Keywords:

suns, soles, eclipses

Glyph or Iconographic Image:

Relevant Nahuatl Dictionary Word(s):

tonatiuh cualo, to have an eclipse of the sun, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/tonatiuh-cualo

Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation:

el eclipse del sol

Image Source:

The Codex Telleriano-Remensis is hosted on line by the Bibliothèque nationale de France.
https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/btv1b8458267s/f99.item. We have taken this detail shot from the indicated folio.

Image Source, Rights:

This manuscript is not copyright protected, but please cite Gallica, the digital library of the Bibliothèque nationale de France or cite this Visual Lexicon of Aztec Hieroglyphs, ed. Stephanie Wood (Eugene, Ore.: Wired Humanities Projects, 2020–present).