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Search Issues: Update 2026-09-16 - Repairs to some of our search pages are ongoing. Thank you for your continued patience!
Meanwhile, elements of the Advanced Search are working and the Alphabetical Listings are working, too.
paint; dye; pigment or color (see Molina); often referring to the color red (see Sahagún); see also: tlapaltlacuilolli and in tlilli in tlapalli
See an image that represents tlapalli in the Visual Lexicon of Aztec Hieroglyphs, ed. Stephanie Wood (Eugene, Ore.: Wired Humanities, 2020-present).
tlapalli = red; totlapallo = our redness (central Mexico, sixteenth century)
auh in ichpochtli mochichiuaia tancuic yn icue, ioan yn ivipil: mopotoniaya, tlapaliuitica = and the maidens arrayed themselves; their skirts and shifts were new. They pasted themselves with red feathers. (central Mexico, sixteenth-century)
Tetzon, teizti, teuitzyo, teaoayo, tetentzon, teixquamul, tetzicueuhca, tetlapanca. Quitoznequi: in aquin oncan tlacati tlatocamecayopan, pilpan: ioan nel no motocayotia. teezzo, tetlapallo = Someone's hair, nails, thorns, briers, eyebrows, chip, and silver. This means someone born of nobility, of a noble family. He was also designated as, someone's blood, someone's red ink. (central Mexico, sixteenth-century)
ma ixquich motlapaltzin = a phrase of encouragement, it means, literally, "may it be all your red color," referring to the color of one's cheeks after exerting energy = "make a valiant effort."
amo qujttaz in tlapalli, ca ixtlapal in tlacatiz piltontli = she should not look upon anything red, for the child would be [extended] crosswise when it was to be born (central Mexico, sixteenth century)
eztli tlapalli = blood + dye = a metaphor for offspring (central Mexico, 1634)
chichicoomototl in qujlipia, iehoatl yn ocholli catca, camaquentia, tlauhio, colxaoa: yoan conolchichipitza… Auh in ichpopuchti, tlapaliujtica qujnpotonja, in inmac, ymicxic, yoã qujnxaoaia, ovme qujnpilhuja chapopotli apetztzo, tlaapetzujlli, tlaapetziotilli: necoccampa incamatepa = They bound the cobs of maize in groups of seven; these were the clusters [of cobs of maize]. They wrapped them in red paper, and painted them with liquid rubber; and they sprinkled on them drops of liquid rubber… And they pasted the young girls’ arms and legs with red feathers; they painted their faces, fastening [on them] two [circles of] fish paste flecked with iron pyrites on both sides, on their cheeks. (16th century, Mexico City)
Canpech tlapali quiteytitio queni mochihuaz yn Tlaxcalteca = Los tlaxcalteca fueron a Campeche, a mostrar cómo se hace el tinte (Tlaxcala, 1662–1692)
yn ye mocha ynic machiyotimani coztic tlapalli = segun que mas claramente parece por la pintura de amarillo (Ciudad de México, 1564)
auh ynic machiyotica in xochipalli nitlapali = están señaladas por una pintura (Ciudad de México, 1564)
Kaohtli de chikome tlapalli (El caballo de siete colores). "El hijo menor captura un caballo de siete colores. Viaja y hace proezas gracias a la ayuda del caballo. Le hacen fiestas y lo creen un dios." (Escuchado en Matlapa, S.L.P. Croft, 1957, 318–320.)