yollotl (FCbk11f25r)

yollotl (FCbk11f25r)
Simplex Glyph

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description:

This black-line drawing of a simplex glyph of a heart (yollotl), is included in this digital collection for the purpose of making comparisons with other hieroglyphs. The term selected for this example comes from the text on the same page as the image in the Digital Florentine Codex. There is no gloss, per se. This example shows a frontal view of a human heart. It has a little bit of shading that gives it a three-dimensionality. This shows European artistic influence. The heart is a hieroglyph for the first part of the name of a bird, the yollotototl. It is a phonetic indicator, although it may also make a semantic contribution that would add to the characteristics of the bird. The bird is largely red with some yellow, and glyphs of hearts can have these same colors.

Description, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis:

The shape of this heart is slightly Europeanized, but it still has what seem to be the arteries or aorta at the top, which are a feature of the earliest heart hieroglyphs.

Added Analysis, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Gloss or Text Image:

Gloss/Text Diplomatic Transcription:

yollo tototl

Gloss/Text Normalization:

yollotototl

Gloss/Text 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)

Writing Features:

simplex or element as logogram

Cultural Content & Iconography:

Anatomy, human body parts

Animals: Birds

Cultural Content, Credit:

Jeff Haskett-Wood

Colors:

black & white drawing (no color)

Shapes and Perspectives:

frontal view

shading and parallel line hatching

three-dimensionality

Other Cultural Influences:

Spanish/European

Keywords:

corazones, arterias, aortas, pájaro, pájaros, ave, aves

Glyph or Iconographic Image:

Relevant Nahuatl Dictionary Word(s):

yollo(tl), heart, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/yollotl

Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation:

el corazón

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. 25r, Getty Research Institute, 2023. https://florentinecodex.getty.edu/en/book/11/folio/25r/images/0 Accessed 16 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: