xochihuauhtli (FCbk11f252v)

xochihuauhtli (FCbk11f252v)
Compound Glyph

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description:

This is a black and white sketch of the compound hieroglyph for a yellow amaranth (xochihuauhtli). The term selected for this example comes from the text on the page preceding the image in the Digital Florentine Codex. There is no gloss, per se. This compound glyph shows a sprig of an amaranth plant with one leaf. The sprig includes the seed cluster (huauhtli) and, below that, a flower (xochitl) with a tripartite base, three petals, and four anthers. The contextualizing image shows the larger plant without any flowers of the type in the compound hieroglyph. The landscape setting and the shading provided in the contextualizing image show European artistic influences.

Description, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis:

In the Florentine Codex, huauhtli plant variations are numerous, but the drawings often look remarkably alike. The use of compound hieroglyphs next to the plants helps to clarify which plant is which, although some have no hieroglyphs.

Added Analysis, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Gloss or Text Image:

Gloss/Text Diplomatic Transcription:

Xochi oauhtli

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)

Writing Features:

later evolution

Cultural Content & Iconography:

Food, Eating, Cooking

Plants, Flora

Cultural Content, Credit:

Jeff Haskett-Wood

Colors:

black & white drawing (no color)

Shapes and Perspectives:

diagonal or angled

leaf, marquise, pointed oval

shading and parallel line hatching

three-dimensionality

Parts (compounds or simplex + notation):

Reading Order (Compounds or Simplex + Notation):

upward

Other Cultural Influences:

Spanish/European

Keywords:

comida, semilla, semillas, flores

Glyph or Iconographic Image:

Relevant Nahuatl Dictionary Word(s):

xochihuauh(tli), yellow amaranth, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/xochihuauhtli
xochi(tl), flower, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/xochitl
huauh(tli), amaranth, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/huauhtli

Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation:

el amaranto amarillo

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. 252v, Getty Research Institute, 2023. https://florentinecodex.getty.edu/en/book/11/folio/252v/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.”

Orthography:

"o" for u, uh, or hu

Historical Contextualizing Image: