quetzalli (CST44)

quetzalli (CST44)
Simplex Glyph

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description: 

This painting of the simplex glyph for the term quetzalli (quetzal feathers) shows a horizontal row of six tied bundles of these feathers. They may have been green once, but now they are a brownish color.

Description, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis: 

For more on the Codex Sierra, see Kevin Terraciano’s study (2021).

Added Analysis, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Gloss Image: 
Source Manuscript: 
Sierra/Texupan, Codex (CST)
Date of Manuscript: 

1550–1564

Creator's Location (and place coverage): 

Santa Catalina Texupan, Mixteca Alta, Oaxaca

Syntax: 
noun(s)
Writing Features: 
simplex or element as logogram
Cultural Content & Iconography: 
Feathers
Cultural Content, Credit: 

Jeff Haskett-Wood

Colors: 
brown
Shapes and Perspectives: 
horizontal
tied, bound, or bundled
vertical, upright
Other Cultural Influences: 
Mixtec
Keywords: 

plumas, pájaros, quetzales, atados

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

quetzal(li), quetzal bird feathers, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/quetzalli

Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation: 

quetzales

Spanish Translation, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Image Source: 

Códice Sierra-Texupan, plate 44, page dated 1561. Origin: Santa Catalina Texupan, Mixteca Alta, State of Oaxaca. Kevin Terraciano has published an outstanding study of this manuscript (Codex Sierra, 2021), and in his book he refers to alphabetic and “pictorial” writing, not hieroglyphic writing. We are still counting some of the imagery from this source as hieroglyphic writing, but we are also including examples of “iconography” where the images verge on European style illustrations or scenes showing activities. We have this iconography category so that such images can be fruitfully compared with hieroglyphs. Hieroglyphic writing was evolving as a result of the influence of European illustrations, and even alphabetic writing impacted it.
https://bidilaf.buap.mx/objeto.xql?id=48281&busqueda=Texupan&action=search

Image Source, Rights: 

The Biblioteca Digital Lafragua of the Biblioteca Histórica José María Lafragua in Puebla, Mexico, publishes this Códice Sierra-Texupan, 1550–1564 (62pp., 30.7 x 21.8 cm.), referring to it as being in the “Public Domain.” This image is published here under a Creative Commons license, asking that you cite the Biblioteca Digital Lafragua and this Visual Lexicon of Aztec Hieroglyphs.

Historical Contextualizing Image: 
See Also: 

quetzalli (Mdz28r)

quetzalli (Mdz43r)