atoctli (FCbk11f226v)

atoctli (FCbk11f226v)
Iconography

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description:

This iconographic example, featuring humid and fertile soil (atoctli), 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 seven productive maize plants and one large flowering plant. The term atoctli combines water (atl) with maize plants (toctli), suggesting that the soil is watered and fertile, ideal for growing maize.

Description, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis:

The compound hieroglyph for Atocpan in the Codex Mendoza shows a scalloped circle of soil with a healthy, productive maize plant growing out of it. See below.

Added Analysis, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Gloss or Text Image:

Gloss/Text Diplomatic Transcription:

atoctli

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:

Corn, Maize

Gender (male)

Land Parcels, Use, Issues

Plants, Flora

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:

tierras, fertilidad, agricultura, máiz, plantas, productividad

Glyph or Iconographic Image:

Relevant Nahuatl Dictionary Word(s):

atoc(tli), thick, humid, and fertile soil, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/atoctli
atoc(tli), thick, fertile, humid soil, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/atoctli
a(tl), water, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/atl
toc(tli), a maize plant or stalk, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/toctli
toca, to plant, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/toca

Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation:

tierra gruesa, húmeda, y fértil

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. 226v, Getty Research Institute, 2023. https://florentinecodex.getty.edu/en/book/11/folio/226v/images/0 Accessed 16 November 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: