ahuatecolotl (FCbk11f103v)

ahuatecolotl (FCbk11f103v)
Iconography

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description:

This iconographic example, featuring a caterpillar (ahuatecolotl), 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 vertical caterpillar that is tan in color and has horizontal lines all down its body. The contextualizing image shows, next to the caterpillar, a frontal view of the yellow-orange butterfly that it will become. The use of a landscape setting suggests European artistic influence in this painting, as does the use of shading, such as that seen on the left side of the ahuatecolotl.

Description, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis:

This is the first ahuatecolotl to enter this digital collection, but there are what appear to be caterpillars or cocoons with other names, such as the temictli and the nahualli. See below.

Added Analysis, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Gloss or Text Image:

Gloss/Text Diplomatic Transcription:

Avatecolotl

Gloss/Text Normalization:

ahuatecolotl

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

Cultural Content, Credit:

Jeff Haskett-Wood

Colors:

tan

Shapes and Perspectives:

segmented

shading and parallel line hatching

three-dimensionality

vertical, upright

Other Cultural Influences:

Spanish/European

Keywords:

oruga, orugas, capullo, capullos, a favorite

Glyph or Iconographic Image:

Relevant Nahuatl Dictionary Word(s):

pazo(tl), a caterpillar, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/pazotl

Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation:

un tipo de oruga

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. 103v, Getty Research Institute, 2023. https://florentinecodex.getty.edu/en/book/11/folio/103v/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.”

Orthography:

"v" for u, uh, or hu

Historical Contextualizing Image: