cozcatl (LTlaxUT2a)

cozcatl (LTlaxUT2a)
Simplex Hieroglyph

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description:

This simplex Nahuatl hieroglyph shows two green stone or turquoise necklaces (cozcatl) stretched out horizontally. They are each strung on two red leather.strips that could be tied together behind one’s neck. The two necklaces show different patterns in the stringing of round and long beads, but both are symmetrical.

Description, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis:

Green and blue (especially turquoise blues) can be a challenge to distinguish especially with precious stones (e.g., chalchihuitl, xihuitl), and Nahuas seem to have been aware of the overlapping tones. Both colors had associations with water, and both were therefore greatly esteemed, given the centrality of water as essential for life. Regarding symmetry, see: Katarzyna Mikulska, “Symmetry as a Cognitive Tool in Mesoamerican Divinatory Books,” Topics in Cognitive Science 18:1 (2025).

Added Analysis, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Gloss or Text Image:

Gloss/Text Diplomatic Transcription:

cozcatl

Gloss/Text Analysis, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Source Manuscript:

Tlaxcala, Lienzo de, UT (LTlaxUT)

Date of Manuscript:

1540s

Creator's Location (and place coverage):

Tlaxcala and other parts of early Mexico

Syntax:

noun(s)

Writing Features:

simplex or element as logogram

Cultural Content & Iconography:

Jewelry, Crowns, or other Adornment

Turquoise or Jadeite/Nephrite

Cultural Content, Credit:

Jeff Haskett-Wood

Colors:

blue (turquoise)

red

Shapes and Perspectives:

frontal view

tied, bound, or bundled

Keywords:

joyas, collares, adorno, adornos, jade, turquesa

Glyph or Iconographic Image:

Relevant Nahuatl Dictionary Word(s):

cozca(tl), necklace, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/cozcatl

Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation:

el collar

Spanish Translation, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Image Source:

Benson Latin American Collection, LLILAS Benson Latin American Studies and Collections, The University of Texas at Austin https://collections.lib.utexas.edu/catalog/utblac:3c754fd0-b27f-4af7-9cf...

Image Source, Rights:

The Benson Library has kindly provided the digital images and permission to put them into our Mapas Project in 2015. Use and reproduction from this project: https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/, but please also cite the Visual Lexicon of Aztec Hieroglyphs, ed. Stephanie Wood, (Eugene, Ore.: Wired Humanities Projects, ©2020-present). Version 1.0.

Historical Contextualizing Image: