Ahuelittoc (FCbk8f6v)

Ahuelittoc (FCbk8f6v)
Simplex Glyph

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description:

This simplex glyph for the personal name Ahuelittoc, who was a ruler of Tlatelolco, shows a nude man lying on his back in a horizontal position. Attached to his neck are two sticks that are bound together. These are reminiscent of the rods (tlacotl) that were attached to slaves (tlacotli). It is unclear how these visuals lend a reading of “invisible.”

Description, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis:

See below for examples of sticks that are tied to throats. In the case of the birth-order name, Tlaco, the symbols of slavery are there to evoke the phonetic indicator (tlacotli), not serving as any intentional slight to the name.

Added Analysis, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Gloss Image:

Gloss Diplomatic Transcription:

Don Juan avelittoc

Gloss Normalization:

Don Juan Ahuelittoc

Gloss Analysis, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Source Manuscript:

Florentine/Florentinus, Codex (FC)

Date of Manuscript:

1577

Creator's Location (and place coverage):

Mexico City

Semantic Categories:

personal name

Syntax:

noun(s)

Writing Features:

simplex or element as logogram

Cultural Content & Iconography:

Gender (male)

Names (personal and/or theonym)

Nudity

Politics, Power, Governance

Slavery

Social Hierarchy, Commoners, Elites

Wood, wooden things

Cultural Content, Credit:

Jeff Haskett-Wood

Colors:

brown

orange/terracotta

white/neutral

Shapes and Perspectives:

facing upward

horizontal

profile view

tied, bound, or bundled

Keywords:

palo, palos, atado, desnudez, invisible, gobernante, gobernantes, gobernador, gobernadores, tlatoani, tlatoque, tlahtoani, tlahtohqueh, nombres famosos, nombres de hombres

Glyph or Iconographic Image:

Relevant Nahuatl Dictionary Word(s):

Ahuelittoc, personal name of a ruler of Tlatelolco, meaning invisible, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/ahuelittoc

Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation:

(“Invisible,” el nombre de un gobernador de Tlatelolco)

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 8: Kings and Lords", fol. 6v, Getty Research Institute, 2023. https://florentinecodex.getty.edu/en/book/8/folio/6v/images/dd867886-56c... Accessed 23 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.”

Orthography:

"v" for u, uh, or hu

Historical Contextualizing Image: