Cozcacuauhtli is the sixteenth of the twenty day signs of the Aztec 260-day calendar. It is usually translated "vulture", and its name has a detail that suits jewellery perfectly: it begins with cozcatl, the Nahuatl word for a necklace or jewel.
A necklace in the name
Cuauhtli means eagle, and cozcatl means necklace, jewel or ornament. When scribes wrote the name in glyphs, they often drew a bird's head together with a necklace, the necklace indicating the "cozca-" part of the word. The Visual Lexicon of Aztec Hieroglyphs, from the University of Oregon's Wired Humanities project, records examples in colonial manuscripts, some showing a red ring at the bird's neck like a collar.
Which bird?
The identity of the bird is debated. It is often identified as the king vulture, whose colourful neck and head could suggest a necklace. The Online Nahuatl Dictionary also notes the crested caracara as a possibility, and a sixteenth-century Spanish dictionary calls it "a red-headed eagle". "Vulture" is the conventional translation for the calendar sign.
A day sign
Like every sign, Cozcacuauhtli combined with the numbers one to thirteen to name days, and people, in the 260-day count.
Cozcacuauhtli in jewellery
A Cozcacuauhtli design brings together a calendar sign, a remarkable bird and a name that already contains the word for jewel.
See the AURYN design, or read our guide to the twenty Aztec day signs.
