xiuhquechol (FCbk11f21r)

xiuhquechol (FCbk11f21r)
Iconography

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description: 

This iconographic example, featuring a Mexican motmot bird (the xiuhquechol) with blue and green feathers, is included in this digital collection for the purpose of making comparisons with related hieroglyphs. The term selected for this example comes from the Nahuatl text on the same page as the image in the Digital Florentine Codex. There is no gloss, per se. This example shows the bird standing and facing the viewer’s right. One foot is in front of the other, which may mean it is walking. It is placed in a landscape setting, which shows European artistic influence.

Description, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis: 

The motmot can have an exceptionally long tail with turquoise-blue feathers at the tips [see: https://ebird.org/species/tubmot1], which could have been valued in the way the long quetzal tail feathers were highly prized. This digital collection has no xiuhquechol hieroglyphs as of October 2025, but there are many glyphs that start with xiuh-. See an example, below, which seems to point to both turquoise blue and green as relevant colors.

Added Analysis, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Gloss Image: 
Gloss Diplomatic Transcription: 

Xiuhquechol

Gloss Normalization: 

xiuhquechol

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: Birds
Feathers
Movement
Cultural Content, Credit: 

Jeff Haskett-Wood

Colors: 
blue (turquoise)
green (light)
white/neutral
Shapes and Perspectives: 
facing right
profile view
Other Cultural Influences: 
Spanish/European
Keywords: 

pájaros, ave, aves, pluma, plumas, animales

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

xiuhquechol, a blue-crowned Mexican motmot bird, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/xiuhquechol

Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation: 

el momoto mexicano (pájaro)

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. 21r, Getty Research Institute, 2023. https://florentinecodex.getty.edu/en/book/11/folio/21r/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: 
See Also: 

Xiuhnel (MH772v)