Huitzitzilapan (Osu35r)

Huitzitzilapan (Osu35r)
Compound Hieroglyph

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description: 

This painted compound Nahuatl hieroglyph represents the place name Huitzitzilapan ("On Hummingbird Lake" or "Hummingbird Canal"). It features the head of a brownish hummingbird (huitzilin) with a long golden beak, shown in profile. Its beak nearly touches a splash of water (atl) that is topped by a white drop or a bead. This splash comes from a canal (apantli) with a golden frame on the bottom and the sides. The water is shallow compared to most canals in this collection. The water has one horizontal line of current (movement), and there is a tiny line of current in the splash.

Description, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis: 

Other examples of glyphs for Huitzitzilapan include whole hummingbirds, not just the head. But they all have a canal (apantli) which may push the translation toward Hummingbird Canal.

Added Analysis, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Gloss or Text Image: 
Gloss/Text Diplomatic Transcription: 

huitzitzilapan

Gloss/Text Normalization: 

Huitzitzilapan

Gloss/Text Analysis, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Source Manuscript: 
Date of Manuscript: 

1551–1565

Creator's Location (and place coverage): 

Mexico City

Semantic Categories: 
Writing Features: 
Cultural Content, Credit: 

Jeff Haskett-Wood

Parts (compounds or simplex + notation): 
Reading Order (Compounds or Simplex + Notation): 
Keywords: 

birds, hummingbirds, water, agua, pájaros, colibríes, nombres de lugares, ave, aves, pájaro, pájaros, pluma, plumas, animals, animales, topónimos, place names

Glyph or Iconographic Image: 
Relevant Nahuatl Dictionary Word(s): 
Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation: 

posiblemente, En el Lago del Colibrí, o El Canal del Colibrí

Spanish Translation, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Image Source: 

Library of Congress Online Catalog and the World Digital Library, Osuna Codex, or Painting of the Governor, Mayors, and Rulers of Mexico, https://www.loc.gov/resource/gdcwdl.wdl_07324/. The original is located in the Biblioteca Nacional de España.

Image Source, Rights: 

"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." But please cite the Biblioteca Nacional de España and this Visual Lexicon of Aztec Hieroglyphs if you use any of these images here or refer to the content on this page, providing the URL

Historical Contextualizing Image: