a quetzal feather crest device (see the Florentine Codex); also the name of a deity (see Alva's guide to confession)
All the gods your fathers and grandfathers used to worship- Huitzilopochtli, Copil, Quetzalpatzactli, Toçancol, Quetzalcohuatl, Tepuztecatl, and still very many others were fashioned out of stone and adored- some were just people, all have died already and are suffering in hell. But when they were still living on earth they used to get ill and tired, they used to weep and become disturbed. . . . They could not help themselves [so] how could they aid those who sought help from them? Since it is all an idle joke and fable it comes to nothing.
In izquintin in inteteohuan, in amottàhuan, in amocolhuan, in quimoteotiaya, in Huitzilopochtli, copil, quetzalpatzactli, toçancol, quetzalcohuatl, tepuztecatl, yhuan huel oc miequintin tetica quiximaya quimoteotiaya, cequintin ça çan tlacame, ye o moch mímioque, Mictlan tlayhiyohuia, auh "cuac oc nemia tlalticpac, mococoaya, ciahuia, chocaya, mamanaya . . . àmo huel monòmapalehuiaya, quenin quinpalehuizque, in intech mopalehuilania? canel moch ahuilli, camanalli, çaçanilli, àtle ipan pouhqui" (León, Camino, fol. 12r). Abbreviations have been resolved.
quetzalpatzactli, coztic teocujtlaio in qujmama = A quetzal feather crest device set off with gold, which he bore upon his back (central Mexico, sixteenth century)
ca huehueyntin yaotiacahuan catca quetzalpatzactli = great, brave warriors. The quetzal feather crest device was their insignia; they bore it upon their backs in battle. (central Mexico, early seventeenth century)
quetzalpatzactli, çan no ye quimacac yn quimacac yn axayacatzin, yhquac yn tepeuhque Metztitlan = the quetzal-feather crestlike device, the one Axayacatzin had given him when they defeated Metztitlan. (central Mexico, early seventeenth century)