amitl

Amitl is a Nahuatl noun meaning “arrow” or “arrowhead.” In classical Nahuatl and related varieties, it referred to the projectile weapon itself as well as the material used for hunting and warfare. The term appears in historical sources and is kept in modern reconstructions of Nahuatl vocabulary, reflecting its role in material culture and daily life.

Orthography varies in European transcriptions, with amitl being a common rendering. Some sources shorten the form to mitl, while others indicate long vowels, such as āmitl, in older or more philological spellings. This variation mirrors broader inconsistencies in Nahuatl spelling across colonial glossaries, missionary dictionaries, and contemporary linguistics.

In iconography, the amitl is frequently depicted as an arrow or arrowhead. Such representations appear in Aztec and other Nahua codices and artworks, where arrows symbolize aspects of hunting, warfare, or martial skill. The symbol can appear within broader calendrical or ceremonial imagery as part of scenes illustrating function, status, or action.

Scholarly attention to amitl treats it as a concrete noun tied to everyday material culture, illustrating how Nahuatl encodes common objects within its lexicon. The term thus helps illuminate connections between language, technology, and iconography in study of Mesoamerican civilizations.