Mayan NomenclatureBowditch, Charles P. (Charles Pickering)
History
Mayan Nomenclature
Bowditch, Charles P. (Charles Pickering)
Maya calendar
The third question is as to the so-called period of “ahau katun.” I
give below all the cases in which Brinton has used the word, and in all
but one of them the Maya has “ahau u katunil”; and in one case Brinton
has translated a sentence as “it was the eleventh ahau katun,” while
exactly similar phrases (with the exception of the number) have been
translated by him as “4 Ahau was the name of the katun.” In the phrase
in paragraph 9 of the second Book of Chumayel, where “ah Bolon ahau
katun” appears, the whole context makes it evident that a katun and not
an ahau katun, if there was such a period, is meant. The paragraph says
“9 Ahau; no stone was taken at this time; in this katun came the Bishop
Brother Francisco Toral; he arrived in Tun 6 of Katun 9 Ahau”; and yet
Brinton makes it read in the first clause that while Bishop Toral came
in a katun called 9 Ahau, he “arrived in Tun 6” of the “ninth Ahau
katun.”
Dr. Tozzer, whose knowledge of the Maya languages, gained in long
residence among the Maya Indians of Yucatan and Chiapas, enables him
to speak with authority, writes me as follows: “The form u katunil
of ahau ukatunil, for example,” in paragraph 3 of the second Book
of Chumayel, p. 167, “is probably possessive, and it would then be
literally ‘the Ahau 8, its Katun’ (the Ahau’s Katun) which might
strengthen the point against joining the two together as Ahaukatun.”
In the second Book of Chumayel, p. 167, paragraph 3, “uucpiztun uaxac
ahau u katunil; laix u katunil, etc.” Brinton translates “in the 7th
year of the 8th Ahau katun, in this katun, etc.” There is no authority
for translating ahau u katunil “ahau katun.” It should be “In Tun 7 of
Katun 8 Ahau, in this katun, etc.,” or, as suggested by Dr. Tozzer, “In
Tun 7 of Ahau eight’s Katun.”
Again, in paragraph 5, the translation of “Hun ahau--tu hunpiztun ychil
hun ahau u katunile” is given, “The first ahau--in the first year of
the first ahau katun.” It should be “1 Ahau--in Tun 1 of the Katun 1
Ahau, &c.”
Again, in paragraph 8 “tu uucpiztun Buluc Ahau u katunil” is translated
“in the seventh year of the eleventh ahau katun,” when it should be “in
Tun 7 of Katun 11 Ahau.” Just above “Tun 1 of 11 Ahau” is given and
followed by “in this katun.”
Again in paragraph 9 we read “Bolon Ahau--lay katun yax ulci obispo
Fray Fran’co to Ral huli tu uacpiztun ychil ahBolon ahau katun lae,”
which Brinton translates “The ninth ahau--in this katun first came
the bishop Brother Francisco Toral; he arrived in the sixth year of
the ninth ahau katun.” It should be “9 Ahau--in this katun--in Tun 6
of Katun 9 Ahau.” This is the only place in the Maya where the words
“ahau katun” appear together. But the context makes it clear that “ahau
katun” is not a period of time. The paragraph begins with “9 Ahau,” and
speaks of it as a katun during which Bishop Toral arrived, and then
proceeds to say that he arrived in Tun 6 of this “ahBolon ahau katun,”
which can mean nothing else than the “Katun 9 Ahau.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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