maquizcoatl. | Nahuatl Dictionary

Headword:

maquizcoatl.

Principal English Translation:

a two-headed snake (see Molina), a type of rattlesnake (Florentine Codex); ; perhaps also a gossip

Orthographic Variants:

maqujzcooatl

IPAspelling:

mɑːkiːskoːɑːtɬ

Alonso de Molina:

maquizcoatl. culebra de dos cabezas.
Alonso de Molina, Vocabulario en lengua castellana y mexicana y mexicana y castellana, 1571, part 2, Nahuatl to Spanish, f. 52v. col. 1. Thanks to Joe Campbell for providing the transcription.

Attestations from sources in English:

The Florentine Codex text says the maquiz- comes from maquiztli, i.e., macuextli (bracelet). Another name for it is tetzauhcoatl. The description starts on folio 81v. The image shows the snake with two heads that are red, a red belly, and a dark gray back. A bracelet with three beads strong on a red cord that is knotted appears near the serpent. (SW)
Digital Florentine Codex/Códice Florentino Digital, edited by Kim N. Richter and Alicia Maria Houtrouw, "Book 11: Earthly Things", fol. 82r, Sahagún, Bernardino de. Florentine Codex: General History of the Things of New Spain. Transcribed and translated with notes by Arthur J. O. Anderson and Charles E. Dibble. 2nd rev. ed. Santa Fe, NM: School of American Research / University of Utah Press, 1950–82. Getty Research Institute, 2023. https://florentinecodex.getty.edu/en/book/11/folio/82r Accessed 31 October 2025.

Attestations from sources in Spanish:

ma ticmocuitlahui in tlacatlatolli; ma yuhqui timaquizcoatl, tichiquimolin timochiuhtinen (Debe decir: tlatlatolli, de tlatlatoa —frecuentativo de tlatoa— hablar mucho) = ten cuidado de palabrerías; no andes haciendo como maquizcóatl, como chiquimolin (centro de México, s. XVI)
Josefina García Quintana, "Exhortación de un padre a su hijo; texto recogido por Andrés de Olmos," Estudios de Cultura Náhuatl 11 (1974), 172–173.

themes:

Animals, Bugs, Insects, Reptiles, Fish, etc.

Snakes, Serpents