Day Symbols of the Maya Year: Sixteenth Annual Report of the Bureau of American Ethnology to the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, 1894-1895, Government Printing Office, Washington, 1897, pages 199-266.Thomas, Cyrus
Religion
Day Symbols of the Maya Year: Sixteenth Annual Report of the Bureau of American Ethnology to the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, 1894-1895, Government Printing Office, Washington, 1897, pages 199-266.
Thomas, Cyrus
Maya calendar
He explains the Quiche-Cakchiquel _hunahpu_ by _hun_, "one," and _ahpu_
"lord of the blowpipe," or "blowpipe shooter." Dr Brinton translates it
the "One Master of Power." He brings the Mexican name into harmony by
rendering it "the flower of the day"--that is, the sun; and the Zapotec
by rendering it "eye," meaning "the eye of the day"--i. e., the sun.
When we attempt to bring the symbol of the day into harmony with the
Maya name, we encounter a difficulty which can be overcome only by
following a different line from that suggested by Dr Brinton or Dr
Seler. That the character shown in LXVIII, 12, is the symbol for the
cardinal point "east," which in Maya is _likin_, is now generally
admitted, and that the lower portion is the symbol for _kin_, "day" or
"sun," is also admitted. We are therefore justified in concluding that
the upper portion, which is the _Ahau_ symbol, stands for _li_, and that
_l_ is its consonant element. If Landa's second _l_ (shown in LXVIII,
43) is turned part way round, it will be seen that it is a rough attempt
to draw the _Ahau_ symbol. If a careful study is made of his _l_'s as
given in his list, and his example of spelling _le_, and of the similar
characters in the codices, it will be seen that both his _l_ characters
are derived from the same original. For example, the character shown in
LXV, 60, from Tro. 22*a is precisely the combination which this author
translates _le_, "a snare," or "to snare." By referring to the plate it
will be seen that it is followed by the character (LXV, 61) which we
have interpreted _kutz_, "turkey," and that in the picture below the
text there is a lassoed turkey. It is apparent, therefore, that both
these forms are used sometimes for words of which _l_ is the chief
phonetic element, and that the parallelogram and two interior dots are
the essential elements. The day symbol is of less frequency in
combination than the other form, but it sometimes occurs. It must,
however, be distinguished from the closely allied _p_ symbol heretofore
alluded to.
From what has been shown in regard to the symbol it would seem, if
considered phonetic, that the original day name it was intended to
represent contained _l_ as its chief consonant element. If ikonomatic,
the name of the thing indicated had _l_ as its chief element.
I think there can be little doubt that the symbol, as has been suggested
by others, was taken from the full face, the central double line
representing the nose, the two open dots the eyes, and the circle below
the mouth. Now, according to Fuller's Zapotec Vocabulary, the name for
face is _lu_, which is the Zapotec name of the day. As has been stated,
Dr Brinton thinks the Nahuatl and Zapotec names refer to the sun, and he
is inclined also to believe that the "ruler" or "sovereign" referred to
by the names of the Maya dialects is the sun.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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