San Juan (Osu38r)

San Juan (Osu38r)
Simplex Hieroglyph

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description: 

This painted simplex Nahuatl hieroglyph represents the place name San Juan (St. John, and in this case, the Baptist). The glyph borrows Christian symbolism related to this saint, which is a chalice with a snake or serpent inside it. The serpent, as shown, seems to have a wing and a curling tail. It is shown in profile, facing toward the viewer's left. The chalice has some horizontal lines that curve part way around the cup on the left-hand side, giving it a three-dimensionality.

Description, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis: 

This hieroglyph, if we can call it that, borrows one hundred percent from Christian iconography. It might be considered a "loan glyph." The gloss includes a "c" at the end of San, which is an archaic or Latinate orthography. For other saints' names in this collection that have interesting iconography, see below. Many of them come from the Codex Sierra Texupa.

Added Analysis, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Gloss or Text Image: 
Gloss/Text Diplomatic Transcription: 

Sanc Juan.

Gloss/Text Normalization: 

San Juan

Gloss/Text Analysis, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Source Manuscript: 
Osuna, Codex (Osu)
Date of Manuscript: 

1551–1565

Creator's Location (and place coverage): 

Mexico City

Semantic Categories: 
place name
Grammar & Linguistics: 
noun(s)
Writing Features: 
simplex or element as logogram
Cultural Content & Iconography: 
Animals: Snakes
Containers, Dishes, Eating Utensils
Gender (male)
Names (places)
Religion (Indigenous Christianity)
Cultural Content, Credit: 

Jeff Haskett-Wood

Colors: 
black
brown
white/neutral
Shapes and Perspectives: 
curving, curvy, curved
facing left
profile view
spiraling, swirling, coiling, curling
three-dimensionality
Keywords: 

cáliz, cálices, santo, santos, serpiente, serpientes, snakes, nombres de lugares, topónimos, topónimo, place names

Glyph or Iconographic Image: 
Relevant Nahuatl Dictionary Word(s): 

san (a loanword from Spanish), Saint, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/san

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

Orthography: 
intrusive "c"
intrusive period
Historical Contextualizing Image: 
See Also: 

San Francisco (MH708v)

San Lucas (MH778v)

San Pablo (CST26)

San Pedro (CST26)

Santa Catalina (CST27)

Santiago (CST39)