mapilhuia (FCbk6f204v)

mapilhuia (FCbk6f204v)
Iconography

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description:

This iconographic example, featuring a black-line drawing of a pointing finger (illustrating the verb, mapilhuia, or mahpilhuia, with the glottal stop, meaning, to point with the finger) is included in this digital collection for the purpose of making potential comparisons with related hieroglyphs. The term selected for this example comes from the keywords chosen by the team behind the Digital Florentine Codex. There is no gloss. This example shows a very carefully drawn hand (maitl). The finger (mapilli, or mahpilli with the glottal stop) is pointing to the viewer’s left. The ruffle from a long-sleeved shirt (showing European influence in clothing) is visible near the wrist. Shading on the hand also shows European artistic influence in the drawing.

Description, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis:

This is a disembodied hand, not connected to a person who is gesturing. It may be a calligraphic visual accent highlighting a point in the text. Or it may be without any intended purpose other than to fill a black space. But Nahuas would see an import in such a symbol, given how they drew authority figures gesturing like this with their hands as an expression of their voice and power.

Added Analysis, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Source Manuscript:

Florentine/Florentinus, Codex (FC)

Date of Manuscript:

1577

Creator's Location (and place coverage):

Mexico City

Syntax:

verb

Cultural Content & Iconography:

Anatomy, human body parts

Gestures with hands

Textiles, Clothing, Hats, Regalia

Cultural Content, Credit:

Jeff Haskett-Wood

Shapes and Perspectives:

facing left

profile view

shading and parallel line hatching

Other Cultural Influences:

Spanish/European

Keywords:

mahpilhuia, maitl, mahpilli, mapilli, dedos

Glyph or Iconographic Image:

Relevant Nahuatl Dictionary Word(s):

mapilhuia, to point a finger at someone, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/mapilhuia

Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation:

señalar con el dedo

Spanish Translation, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Image Source:

Available at Digital Florentine Codex/Códice Florentino Digital, edited by Kim N. Richter and Alicia Maria Houtrouw, "Book 6: Rhetoric and Moral Philosophy", fol. 204v, Getty Research Institute, 2023. https://florentinecodex.getty.edu/en/book/6/folio/204v/images/0 Accessed 10 July 2025.

Image Source, Rights:

Images of the digitized Florentine Codex are made available under the following Creative Commons license: CC BY-NC-ND (Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 4.0 International). For print-publication quality photos, please contact the Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana ([email protected]). The Library of Congress has also published this manuscript, using the images of the World Digital Library copy. “The Library of Congress is unaware of any copyright or other restrictions in the World Digital Library Collection. Absent any such restrictions, these materials are free to use and reuse.”

Historical Contextualizing Image: