chiyanpapalotl (FCbk11f100v)

chiyanpapalotl (FCbk11f100v)
Iconography

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description:

This iconographic example, featuring a spotted butterfly (chiyanpapalotl), is included in this digital collection for the purpose of making comparisons with related hieroglyphs. The term selected for this example comes from the text near the image in the Digital Florentine Codex. There is no gloss, per se. This example shows a frontal view of a gray, black, and white butterfly. The companion Nahuatl text says that it looks as though it is sprinkled with chia seeds, covered with flecks. The text also says that it is somewhat similar to the xicalpapalotl. The way this butterfly is put ito a landscape setting suggests European artistic influence.

Description, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis:

This is the first chiyanpapalotl to enter this collection (as of November 2025), but Nahuatl hieroglyphs of chiyantli do appear. See below.

Added Analysis, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Gloss or Text Image:

Gloss/Text Diplomatic Transcription:

Chianpapalotl

Gloss/Text Normalization:

chiyanpapalotl

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: Insects & Bugs

Food, Eating, Cooking

Plants, Flora

Cultural Content, Credit:

Jeff Haskett-Wood

Colors:

black

gray

white/neutral

Shapes and Perspectives:

dotted, granular, textured

frontal view

spotted or mottled

Other Cultural Influences:

Spanish/European

Keywords:

semillas de chia, chia seeds, chian, mariposas, butterflies

Glyph or Iconographic Image:

Relevant Nahuatl Dictionary Word(s):

chiyanpapalotl, a gray, black, and white speckled butterfly, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/chiyanpapalotl
chiyan(tli), chia plant, chia seeds, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/chiyantli
papalo(tl), butterfly, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/papalotl

Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation:

la mariposa “chia”

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. 100v, Getty Research Institute, 2023. https://florentinecodex.getty.edu/en/book/11/folio/100v/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: