quimichin (FCbk11f18r)

quimichin (FCbk11f18r)
Iconography

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description:

This iconographic example, featuring a mouse (quimichin), is included in this digital collection for the purpose of making 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, per se. This example shows a quimichin in profile, facing toward the viewer’s right. It has a mottled coat, gray on its back and white on its belly. Another group of quimichin appears on folio 18v, showing the animals eating a variety of foods (maize, peppers, chia, and many others).

Description, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis:

The quimichin is rare so far (as of October 2025) in this collection. One example is found in the Codex Mendoza as part of a place name. Another one is floating in the air above a scene of sexual procurement. Perhaps pimps were called by the nickname quimichin.

Added Analysis, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Gloss Image:

Gloss Diplomatic Transcription:

quimichin

Gloss Analysis, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Source Manuscript:

Florentine/Florentinus, Codex (FC)

Date of Manuscript:

1577

Creator's Location (and place coverage):

Mexico City

Syntax:

noun(s)

Cultural Content & Iconography:

Animals: Misc.

Sexuality, Fertility

Cultural Content, Credit:

Jeff Haskett-Wood

Colors:

gray

white/neutral

Shapes and Perspectives:

facing right

profile view

spotted or mottled

Keywords:

ratones, chulo, chulos, alcahuete, alcahuetes, sexualidad

Glyph or Iconographic Image:

Relevant Nahuatl Dictionary Word(s):

quimich(in), a mouse or rodent, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/quimichin

Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation:

el ratón

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 11: Earthly Things", fol. 18r, Getty Research Institute, 2023. https://florentinecodex.getty.edu/en/book/11/folio/18r/images/0 Accessed 7 October 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: