atotolin (FCbk11f28v)

atotolin (FCbk11f28v)
Iconography

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description: 

This iconographic example, featuring a white pelican (atotolin), 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 near the image in the Digital Florentine Codex. There is no gloss, per se. This example shows a profile view of the pelican facing toward the viewer’s right. While it is a white pelican, much of it has been painted with a light blue, and it has black accents on the wing feather tips and on the top of the head. The eye and beak are yellow. The legs are white, but the feet are not visible, as the bird is standing in water, an intentional emphasis on the habitat.

Description, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis: 

White pelicans remain prevalent in Mexico. For example, clusters of them often appear on the shores of Lake Chapala, Jalisco, where they somewhat resemble a herd of sheep, and they are affectionately called borreguitos (Spanish for little sheep). The contextualizing image shows a water snake rearing its head up from the water where the pelican is standing. This is the first pelican to enter this digital collection.

Added Analysis, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Gloss or Text Image: 
Gloss/Text Diplomatic Transcription: 

Atototl

Gloss/Text Normalization: 

atototl

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)
Cultural Content & Iconography: 
Animals: Birds
Animals: Reptiles
Feathers
Cultural Content, Credit: 

Jeff Haskett-Wood

Colors: 
black
blue (turquoise)
white/neutral
yellow or golden
Shapes and Perspectives: 
facing right
profile view
Keywords: 

pájaro, pájaros, ave, aves, plumas, pelícanos

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

atotol(in), the white pelican, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/atotolin

Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation: 

el pelícano blanco americano

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. 28v, Getty Research Institute, 2023. https://florentinecodex.getty.edu/en/book/11/folio/28v/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: