Classical Nahuatl

The glyph for the day sign cuāuhtli “eagle”, from the Codex Magliabechiano.

Alternative forms

• quauhtli (obsolete spelling)

Noun

cuāuhtli ‎(animate, plural cuācuāuhtin)

1. eagle
   • 1555: Alonso de Molina, Aqui comienca vn vocabulario en la lengua castellana y mexicana, f. 11r.

     Aguila.  quauhtli.

     An eagle. quauhtli.

   • 1571: Idem, Vocabulario en lengua castellana y mexicana y mexicana y castellana, f. 87v. col. 1.

     Quauhtli. aguila.

     Quauhtli. an eagle.

   • c1600: Unknown, Anónimo mexicano, f. 7r.

     oquitlalílique miec ytlahuitol, ce cuauhtlí tlacuicuítl, […]

     They buried him with very many of his things: his bow, an eagle carved of wood, […]

   • 1645: Horacio Carochi, Arte de la lengua mexicana con la declaración de los adverbios della, f. 128r.

     Quāuhtli, 1. larga, el Aquila.

     Quāuhtli, [with the] first [vowel] long, the eagle.

2. The fifteenth day sign of the Aztec tōnalpōhualli, represented conceptually by this animal.
   • 16C: Codex Magliabechiano, f. 13r.

     macuil coautlj / q quiere dezir / çinco aguilas.

     macuil coautlj. which means “five eagles”.

Derived terms

References

• Alonso de Molina (1571) Vocabulario en lengua castellana y mexicana y mexicana y castellana, Mexico: Editorial Porrúa, pages 87v
• Rémi Siméon (1885) Diccionario de la lengua náhuatl o mexicana, Mexico: Siglo Veintiuno Editores, page 415
• Horacio Carochi (2001) Grammar of the Mexican Lnaguage, with an Explanation of its Adverbs (1645), Stanford: Stanford University Press, pages 470-71
• Anónimo Mexicano, Logan: Utah State University Press, 2005, pages 19-20