poccuahuitl (FCbk11f114r)

poccuahuitl (FCbk11f114r)
Iconography

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description:

This iconographic example, featuring a smoking tree trunk (poccuahuitl), 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 what appears to be a brown tree trunk that has been chopped down and rests on its side. Branches have been cut off, too. Gray smoke pours from the left end of the wood, curling as it rises (suggesting movement). The tree stands in a landscape setting. This setting, along with the shading that provides a three-dimensionality to the scene, reveal European artistic influence.

Description, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis:

Nahuatl hieroglyphs with curling smoke are extremely common in this digital collection. The smoke is often shown in simple black-line volutes, or as volutes that are painted gray, sometimes with red or orange elements. Poctli (noun) and popoca (verb) are excellent terms for searching to see relevant glyphs, although there are many possibilities, including “smoke,” of course. A few examples appear below.

Added Analysis, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Gloss or Text Image:

Gloss/Text Diplomatic Transcription:

pocquavitl

Gloss/Text Normalization:

poccuahuitl

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:

Fire, Tobacco, Incense, Smoke

Movement

Plants, Flora

Wood, wooden things

Cultural Content, Credit:

Jeff Haskett-Wood

Colors:

brown

gray

green (light)

Shapes and Perspectives:

shading and parallel line hatching

spiraling, swirling, coiling, curling

three-dimensionality

Other Cultural Influences:

Spanish/European

Keywords:

madero, madera, humo, fuego, humea

Glyph or Iconographic Image:

Relevant Nahuatl Dictionary Word(s):

poccuahu(itl), firewood that smokes a lot, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/poccuahuitl

Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation:

la leña humosa

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. 114r, Getty Research Institute, 2023. https://florentinecodex.getty.edu/en/book/11/folio/114r/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:

"q" for c

"v" for u, uh, or hu

Historical Contextualizing Image: