tzilacayotli (FCbk11f253r)

tzilacayotli (FCbk11f253r)
Iconography

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description:

This iconographic example, featuring a black and white sketch of type of squash (tzilacayotli), 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 squash with the stem down. The contextualizing image emphasizes how it is full of seeds.

Description, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis:

The stem-down position is repeated in a hieroglyph from the Tierras volume of the national archive, ayotli (T1871:1). This is different from the usual drawing of a squash in European cultures, where the stem is upright. Other examples show squashes with the stems on the side. The Spanish text that accompanies the tzilacayotli in the Florentine Codex explains that it is smooth and “painted,” which may refer to its stripes. The hieroglyph of the tzilacayotli in the Codex Mendoza is painted, showing light and dark green stripes on the squash.

Added Analysis, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Gloss or Text Image:

Gloss/Text Diplomatic Transcription:

Tzilacaiotli

Gloss/Text Normalization:

tzilacayotli

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:

Food, Eating, Cooking

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:

calabazas, comida, plantas, semilla, semillas, flor, flores

Glyph or Iconographic Image:

Relevant Nahuatl Dictionary Word(s):

tzilacayo(tli), a soft, shiny, striped squash, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/tzilacayotl

Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation:

un tipo de calabaza (lisa y pintada)

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. 253r, Getty Research Institute, 2023. https://florentinecodex.getty.edu/en/book/11/folio/253r/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:

"i" for y

Historical Contextualizing Image: