Aids to the study of the Maya codices / by Cyrus Thomas.

  • Cyrus Thomas
Date:
1888
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Aids to the study of the Maya codices / by Cyrus Thomas. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    symbol of the month Yaxkin contains the same sun symbol. It would be somewhat remarkable to find the same single character in three different combinations, representing three different ideas ex- pressed by words containing the same sound, yet having no reference to the sound. It is now generally admitted by students of American paleogra- phy, on what appears to be satisfactory evidence, that symbol No. 7 of the preceding list, Cab, is used to signify “ earth” or “land” and “honey,” both of which are designated by the same Maya term, Cab. As there is no similarity in the things denoted the character is probably phonetic. The “bee” appears also to be frequently in- dicated by the same character with an affix, as may be seen by refer- ence to the lower divisions of Plates III*—X* of the Manuscript Troano. The symbol No. 9 (U) of the preceding list is found repeatedly on vases and also as a prefix to both simple and compound characters. As U in Maya signifies “moon,” “vase,” and certain pronouns and is also used as a euphonic particle before vowels, we are perhaps justi- fied in concluding that the symbol is phonetic and denotes the word U. I am aware that neither Perez nor Dr. Brinton gives “vase” as one of the meanings of this word, yet its constant appearance on vessels seems to leave no doubt that Brasseur is correct. Even ad- mitting that he is mistaken and that we are in error as to the sig- nification of the symbol, its various uses justify the belief that it is phonetic. The symbol No. 34 of the preceding list, which is supposed to be that of the god Ekchuah, is probably phonetic. The name of this deity is composed of two Maya words, ek, “black,” and chu, “cala- bash,” and hence signifies “the black calabash,” and the form and coloring of the symbol are apparently intended to denote this signifi- cation. If this interpretation be correct it is phonetic, as there is nothing in or pertaining to the figure of the deity which corresponds with it, except the color. If the interpretation given of the preceding symbols Nos. 22, 24, 26, 27a, and 33 be correct, there can be scarcely a doubt that they are phonetic. In the first — cacau, cacauak, or cacauche, the “cacao”—we see Landa’s letter Ca, which is doubled in each of the three forms taken from the different codices. In the twenty-sixth — Kukuitz, the Quetzal—Landa’s Ku is duplicated, as it should be if phonetic, while in 27a, Kuch, it appears but once. There is here also an additional evidence of phoneticism in the fact that, while one of the symbols used to denote this bird shows simply its head, and is surely not phonetic, the other is entirely different and bears no resemblance whatever to any feature or characteristic of the bird. Moreover, both parts of it are used in other combinations referring to entirely different things. 6 ETH 24