Part 7

4. _An Analysis of Various Graphic Elements._

I shall now proceed, in the manner above described, to examine a number of simple and composite characters, not by any means exhausting the stock, but rather merely offering suggestions and examples for future students. In their application it must always be remembered that any Maya character may be employed in either of three values: 1, As an ideogram; 2, as a rebus; 3, as an astronomical or numerical sign.

The _hand_ contributes to some of the most numerous hieroglyphs in the Mayan writing; and the significant poses assigned it in the pictures and statues prove how expressive it was to this people.

The forms presented in Fig. 30 by no means exhaust its delineations. They are drawn from gesture-speech and each is significant. No. 1, from the Cod. Cort., is the usual sign “to give;” No. 2, from the Cod. Tro., shows it in hasty writing; No. 3 is the hand closing (“la main qui se ferme,” Brasseur). It is the sign for the day _manik_, and is explained by Dr. Seler, “to eat;” but I take it to be the rebus for _mach_, “to grasp” (“asir, tomar con las manos,” _Dic. Motul_). No. 4, the hand closed, thumb downward (_pollice verso_), has probably an inauspicious significance (very common, _e. g._, Cod. Per., pp. 2, 3, 6, 7); No. 5 is the “supporting hand” (very frequent, usually in composition); No. 6 is intended to show the hand, palm upward, forming a cup (Cod. Dres., p. 40, Cod. Tro., p. 21),—it would signify “offering;” No. 6½, from the stelæ of Copan, must mean union or friendship. The two hands held as No. 7 occur repeatedly in Cod. Dres., pp. 6, 7, in the Tro. and Cort. often thus, [Illustration], to which Thomas, by means of his “key,” assigns the wonderful meaning, “a meat pie”! Nos. 8 and 9 are explained by Seler as the supporting hand; No. 10 shows the hand and arm pointing; No. 12, Cod. Tro., 30, 31, is the index finger extended; No. 11, Cort., p. 28, shows the closed hand as a suffix to the sign _ik_.[109]

Phonetically the hand is _kab_, which also means “arm, finger, juice, sap, tears;” and as a rebus it could stand for _kaba_, name.

By some writers all the signs, Fig. 32 are supposed to represent the _eye_. Nos. 1 and 2 may also stand for a tooth, and for the small bells worn as ornaments. No. 3 has been called the “weeping eye,” and by Brasseur “une hache;” but I take it to be the space within the closing hand (Figs. 31, No. 3). No. 4 shows the eyelashes of the closed eye, and signifies sleep or death. No. 5 is the “ornamented” or “serpent” eye, and, according to Thomas, is the characteristic of a deity. Nos. 6 and 8 are supposed by Seler to be the eye torn out. They are extremely common affixes. Schellhas explains No. 6 as “the head and creeping foot of a snail.” I am persuaded that it is a bird’s wing, or the chief feather of a wing, and means “superior,” “supremacy,” or something of that kind.[110] For that reason it always appears in the sign of Kin ich ahau. No. 8 I regard also as copied from a feather ornament.[111] No. 7, called by Seler the “bleeding eye,” I take to be a sign for stars.

In Maya, _ich_, the eye, also means “face” and “twins.”

The design, Fig. 33, No. 1, abundant in the Codices and on the stone and ceramic remains, shows eyes, but is believed by Förstemann to represent the planet Venus, and to be a variant of Fig. 37, No. 4. Seler thinks it an ornamental _kin_ (see Fig. 36). It is carved on the great tortoise of Copan, and Nos. 2, 3, and 4 are from the pottery of that city, on which it is the most common glyph I have noted. In No. 5, from Cod. Dres., p. 57, it is postfixed to a human figure reversed. Brasseur explains it as “the spectacles of Tezcatlipoca,” and for a name, we may call it “the spectacles glyph.”

The human _ear_ has been represented by No. 2, Fig. 34, as has been proved by de Rosny and Thomas. No. 1 (Cod. Cort., p. 16) is either an ear or an ear ornament. It is not the ordinary ear-ring, which is clearly shown in Figs. 12, 17, etc. This latter is often used as an affix, and has been confused with the serpent rattle, and with No. 3, which is the lower jaw bone, _cham_ or _camach_. (See Cod. Cort., pp. 35, 36, etc.)

The ear is _xicin_, which also means “shell.” Ear-rings are _tup_, a word which as a verb signifies “to stop up, to cover over, to extinguish.”[112]

The group of signs, Fig. 35, beginning with a person seated, are, in the opinion of Seler, all derivatives from “man.” Nos. 2, 3, and 4 he calls “eyes,” and Nos. 5–11 outlines of the mouth, jaws, and face, with a general value, “person.” Other suggestions are, that the crescentic outlines, Nos. 6, 7, 11, refer to a crescent moon, or an ear (Schellhas), or to a serpent’s mouth (Allen); while No. 10 may be an eye and eyelashes (Allen), a comb (Valentini), a claw, a feather, part of a plant, etc. It may be called the “comb sign.”[113]

My belief is that some of these affixes show the necklace on which beads and precious stones were strung. This was called _u_, which is also the word for moon, and in sound is akin to _uil_, food.[114]

By the latter fact I would explain the frequent appearance of this sign [Illustration] on the neck of vases and on haunches of venison (Cod. Tro. 22, etc.). The picture of a necklace shown in the _Lienzo de Tlascala_, p. 7, will demonstrate how close is the resemblance. That in Landa’s alphabet (see above, p. 15) this sign is given for _u_, confirms my supposition.

The hieroglyphs of the _sun_, Fig. 36, Nos. 1 and 2, cannot be mistaken. In the latter, the four teeth indicate the biting heat. This design often occurs on war shields. No. 1 is that usually employed in composition. The word for sun is _kin_, which has the further meanings, “day, light, festival, time, news, to rule;” from it are derived _kinal_, “heat, hot;” _kinam_, “strength, bravery, power, poison, fear, veneration;” _ah-kin_, “a priest,” etc. The _kin_ sign usually indicates a beneficent divinity.

The third sign in Fig. 36 is that for moon (Schellhas). Dr. Seler, however, claims that it is the symbol of “night,” and that where it means 20 (see above, p. 21), it is not derived from _u_, moon, but from _uinic_, man. He explains the figure as a human head with a “bleeding eye,” and bare teeth.

In all these points I think he is in error. Maya grammar does not authorize the derivation of _uinal_ from _uinic_ (in which Seler follows Brasseur); but it may come from _u_, month, _uin_ or _uen_, “relating to a month.” His statement that the 20–day period was not spoken of as an _uinal_, is disproved by Landa, who calls it _uinal hun ekeh_, “a dark month,” to distinguish it from one lighted by the moon. A close examination of most of the drawings will show that the line on which the supposed bare teeth are shown is not that of the mouth, but that of the necklace above mentioned, which has the value _u_. Cf. Fig. 3, No. 3.

No. 1, Fig. 37, I introduce from Mexican pictography; it is the sacred green jade jewel, the _xihuitl_, meaning “precious, divine.” By it I explain the very common No. 2, a modification either of it or of the _kin_ sign, constantly associated with deities (on the hand, Cod. Dres., p. 21; on the leg, id., 12; on the back, id., 39; and always on the head-dress of the God of Growth).

No. 3 may be a modification of the _kin_. It is given in Landa’s alphabet, where it stands for _be_, footprints. It may also be the stones of the hearth, and signify “house.” As a “directive sign,” it stands for the point south, and the color yellow; and it appears as an occasional variant of the day-signs _lamat_, _muluc_, and _chuen_.

No. 4 is thought by Seler to be merely an ornamental form of the _kin_ sign; but by Förstemann is taken for the monogram of the planet Venus, at least in the Cod. Dres., where it is very frequent on pp. 46–50. It is repeated with slight variations on the Copan pottery.

The flint knife was an important implement. Landa speaks of the numerous large ones kept by the priests for slaughtering their victims.[115] They were called _ta_, and _licil dzicil_; in Tzental, _chinax_, from _chi_, to bite. Fig. 38, Nos. 1, 2, and 4, show the usual forms in which they are drawn, the small squares at the end being the biting edges. No. 3, surmounted by the “trinal” sign, refers probably to lightning. No. 6 is a rare sign for a dog, showing his biting teeth (Cod. Tro., p. 25). The flint knife typifies sacrifice, death, war, the East, and fire. As a rebus, it could stand for _ta_, excrement; _tah_, a dramatic representation, etc.

No. 5 is a very common affix. It has been regarded as a variant of the knife (Seler, etc). But it is too constantly distinguished from it to have this meaning. I consider it the sacred bean, with which divination was practiced and lots cast. This was called _bul_, a word which, as an affix, means “all,” the whole of anything, as _bulkin_, “the whole day.” This may suggest its signification.

The curious objects in Fig. 39 were long a puzzle to me, and have not been explained by previous writers. I believe them to be representations of the food products of the sea, showing a fish and two shellfish. My reasons for this are that in Cod. Dres., p. 34, they are seen along with other food-offerings (see Fig. 30); in some places the fish tail is unmistakeable (Cod. Dres., pp. 6, 7, 36); in Cod. Cort., pp. 20, 21, they are associated with a fishing bird,—a pelican or cormorant; in Cod. Dres., p. 50, the two shells are replaced by one conch shell; and in Cod. Dres., p. 67, a fish and two shells are painted separately, to represent food from the sea. The two shells are often seen in other relations, as sprinkled with blood (Cod. Tro., p. 18*), and as an affix (see Fig. 31, No. 10). I shall refer to this as the “fish and oyster” sign.

Shells had a peculiar sacredness in Maya symbolism. The robes of some of the priests were bordered with them.[116]

Some other sacred food-offerings are shown in Fig. 40. The first is the haunch of venison tied up (identified as such by Brasseur); the second is the fish, here shown with a subfix; the third is the wild turkey, represented by his head in a dish. Another is the iguana (see p. 122, No. 14); and a fifth is the object shown on p. 122, No. 12. It has been explained as a grain of corn sprouting from the ground, or a mole emerging from its hole (Schellhas). The true explanation is that of Brasseur, that it portrays the forequarter and head of a food-animal, tied up. He does not specify what animal, but in some of the drawings I distinctly recognize the dog, with his sharp teeth, the species raised by the Mayas to be eaten on festival occasions, as stated by Landa.[117]

Nos. 1 and 2, Fig. 41, are variants of an element often occurring with a _ben-ik_ superfix. Dr. Seler, who is apt to see gory human heads everywhere, thinks it is one carried in a sling and means “conquered in war.”

Dr. Förstemann, with greater probability, considers that it symbolizes an astronomical event connected with the motions of the sun. (See the significant designs, Cod. Tro., 28* _b_.)

The _ben-ik_ sign referred to is rendered by Seler to mean conquest and destruction; by Förstemann, astronomically, as the lunar month of 29 days; in a general sense, I would say, “strength and deific power.” It is a very constant association of the two day-signs so named, _ben_ giving the idea of motion, and _ik_ of life and power.

In No. 3 is a long worm-like figure under the _ben-ik_ sign. Brasseur pointed out that it is a variant of the day-sign _men_, and explained it as a caterpillar (_chenille_). Seler speaks of it as an eagle, and as a symbol of “mother earth;” Schellhas, as perhaps the serpent goddess. It sometimes is drawn to have a fish-like appearance (Cod. Per., p. 7), and may symbolize the waters; the more so as it has occasionally as a superfix the “cloud-balls.”

No. 4 is explained by Brasseur as the girdle, _xoc_, around the body; and I prefer this to later suggestions. A similar design was the tress of hair, _kax pol_ or _kaaxi_, worn by women (see Cod. Tro., p. 27; Cod. Dres., p. 45). Its signification would seem to be “to tie together, to join,” or, as a rebus, “rain, to rain,” for _kaxala_ (llover, y la lluvia).

No more prominent hieroglyph than No. 1, Fig. 42, can be found in the Mayan inscriptions, and none which has proved such a stumbling block to interpreters. Valentini has called it the picture of a censer or brazier; de Rosny thought it a variant of the _ahau_ sign; Dr. Seler explained it as a precious stone; and Thomas as “a stone heap!” It is the upper figure in the “Initial Series” of glyphs at Palenque, Copan, Quirigua, etc. (see above, p. 24), and recurs with but slight variations in all the Codices.

I first announced what it represents and its signification at the meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, August, 1894.[118] It is the picture of a _drum_, the large variety, made of the hollow trunk of a tree resting upon short feet, the trunk being sawed across partly through so as to give two vibrating surfaces, which were often decorated with cross-hatching. Such drums are described by the early Spanish writers, and one is shown in the Atlas to Duran’s History.[119] Their sound could be heard for two leagues, and they were important adjuvants in the services in the temples.

In the hieroglyphics the significance of this design is primarily phonetic. The name of this particular kind of drum was _pax che_, from _pax_, musical instrument, and _che_, wooden; a large one was _bolon pax che_, the word _bolon_, nine, being a superlative prefix in Maya. Employed according to the ikonomatic method, this expressed the word _paxan_, a very common term in Maya, meaning “it is finished,” and applied to anything completed, ended, or destroyed, in a good or bad sense.[120] This is why in the numeral signs it marks the end of a series (see above, p. 22), and in the so-called “Initial Series” (which I believe to be terminal), it surmounts and thus closes (reading from below upward) the rows of computation signs. For the same reason it is the support of the figure representing the dying year in the ceremonies at its termination (Cod. Tro., pp. 20–24), and is often associated with the deities of old age, destruction, and death.

Several other varieties of drums were in use among the Mayas. That shown Fig. 42 No. 2, is noteworthy. It is the _dzacatan_ (Berendt), or medicine-drum (from _dzacah_, to cure, to practice medicine). It was used in the sacred ceremonies (see Fig. 30), and Itzamna is portrayed playing upon one (Cod. Dres., p. 34). Its representations in the Codices are peculiar, and have been entirely misunderstood by previous writers. I show them in Fig. 43, Nos. 1, 2, 3. In a more highly conventionalized form we find them in the Cod. Troano, thus: [Illustration] which has been explained by Pousse, Thomas, and others, as making fire or as grinding paint. It is obviously the _dzacatan_, what I have called the “pottery decoration” (see p. 58) around the figures, showing that the body of the drum was of earthenware.

Fig. 42, No. 3 shows the ordinary hand drum, the _huehuetl_ of the Mexicans. Its name in Maya is _tunkul_, properly _tankul_, which means either “before the gods,” or “now one worships” (ahora se adora, Baeza.) It was either of wood and was struck with a stick; or of pottery with a skin stretched over its mouth, when the sound was produced by the fingers. Some were large and stood upright, as shown in Fig. 43.[121] Representations of these are common in the Codices, and have generally been mistaken for vases. (See Cod. Cort., p. 27.) Even Nos. 4 and 5, Fig. 44, are probably some such musical instruments. (See Cod. Cort., pp. 12, 30, 31.)

Few glyphs are more frequent than No. 1, Fig. 45, either alone or in such combinations as Nos. 2 and 3. The guesses as to what it represents have been singularly divergent. Brasseur said, a kind of gourd; Seler, a tree; Schellhas, the zapote; Rosny and Förstemann, the phallus, etc.

None of these suggestions seems to me tenable. I believe it represents a common feather decoration made of short green or blue feathers, attached to a style or staff. It is frequent on Mexican and Maya figures, and in No. 4, Fig. 45, I copy one from a Maya war dress. The lower portion represents the ornament to which I allude. It was called _yax kukul_, and this gives the phonetic rebus value of the sign, which is _yax_, green, and (metaphorically) new, young, fresh, strong, virile, etc.

Care must be taken not to confound this with the character seen in the sign of the dog (see p. 70), which really represents the ribs and breast-bone, although called a “phallus” by Rosny, an “article of food” by Thomas, a “breastplate” by Allen, and a “vertebral column” by Seler.[122]

The three feathers which surmounted the _yax kukul_, as shown in No. 4, Fig. 45, also developed in the hieroglyphs to an important sign. It is shown in Fig. 46, No. 1, and is the uppermost sign in the “Initial glyph” of Palenque (see p. 137) and was a mark of eminent distinction. (See Fig. 47, No. 2.)

These three feathers indicated in Maya symbolism the highest place and power. They appear on the head of the important statue unearthed by Dr. Le Plongeon at Chichen Itza, which he calls “Chac Mool,” in the form given Fig. 46, No. 2. Three was a sacred number with the Mayas, and with this in mind I shall refer to it as the “trinal” sign.

In Mexican writing the three feathers appear in the ikonomatic sign for _tecpan_, royal, in the _Lienzo de Tlascala_, pp. 56, 57, 78. As feather in Maya is _kukum_, which is allied in sound to _ku_, god, _kul_, divine, etc., we see what an appropriate rebus the “trinal” makes.

Rounded figures, identified by Seler as “feather balls,” are sometimes portrayed above the _men_, or “Mother Earth” sign, and in other relations. See Cod. Peres., p. 7, for a good example.

A number of drawings in the Codices represent textile materials—mats, cotton cloth, wicker-work, etc. That Fig. 47, No. 1 is frequent, both as an affix and as part of costume. Thomas calls it a trellis or lattice work; Seler, an imitation of a snake skin; Förstemann, of the shell of a tortoise. In some places it is clearly a part of a helmet made of interlaced and twisted cords attached to a frame. (See Cod. Tro., pp. 2, 3, 6, 19, 22*, 23*.)[123] In Nos. 2 and 3 it appears as a written character with superfixes. It forms part of the sign of the day _chicchan_, and is attached to the sign of the sun and of the world.

This cross-hatching I regard as showing woven stuff, or that twisted, knotted, and plaited; and I consider its value when used phonetically to be “strong, mighty,” because the word for “strong” in Maya is _chich_, and that for twisting and interlacing cords is _chich-kuch_,—again a simple rebus.[124]

The designs, on p. 129, are supposed by Seler and Thomas to represent a house, the roof of which is indicated by the cross-hatched or plaited objects, [Illustration] and [Illustration]. I regard them as meaning a _canopy_, the practical and symbolic uses of which article are often referred to by the early visitors to these tribes.[125]

In Fig. 48, No. 1, I give a frequent postfix. In the pictures it portrays the wing of a bird, the foot of an animal, the claw of a reptile or insect, or the tail of a dog (Cod. Tro., p. 27).

No. 2 is the conventional sign for _smoke_, as may be seen in Cod. Tro., pp. 5*, 6*, etc.

No. 3 is called by Seler an ideogram for “man” or “person.”

No. 4 I introduce from the Mexican pictography to illustrate the use of black dots. They have many significations which I have not traced in Mayan Codices, such as seed, salt, ashes, stars, sand, earth, and from the latter, place, region, world.[126] In the sign for the day, _ix_, I believe we see the dots with the signification _xiix_, “grain-husks.” A line or lines of dots mean “speech” or vocal sound, as attached to the drum, Fig. 44, No. 3; coming from the mouth of a dog, Cod. Tro., p. 20, singing, etc. Some have mistaken this for the sign of death. Dots in Maya are _ua_ or _ual_, akin in sound to _u_, month, _uil_, food, and may be allusive for these ideas.

The _kan_ and _imix_ signs are often associated under two superfixes enclosing dots, as in Fig. 49, No. 1. These have been interpreted by Seler to indicate copal gum, or the burning of incense. The sign is associated with various deities, especially those of a beneficent character.

The same objects, however, occur elsewhere as superfixes over various glyphs, as Fig. 49, No. 2, where it is not easy to assign them any such meaning.

Modifications of Fig. 50, No. 1 are quite frequent. This sign has had various explanations, as typifying fire, lightning, or wind (Seler, Schellhas); but I believe it represents divine or magical power exerted by blowing. As I have explained in my _Nagualism_, “the act of blowing was the essential feature in the practice of the ‘medicine men.’ It symbolized the exercise and transfer of spiritual power.”[127] Where the deity is portrayed with this addition, he is in the act of exerting his divine influence. For examples, see the “bee god,” in Cod. Tro., pp. 5* and 10*, where the head is as in No. 2; and the scorpion, in Cod. Tro., p. 2, precisely like one in the Cod. Porfirio Diaz, lam. I. At times it also conveys the idea of speech, or vocal sound, or that from a drum, etc., _e. g._, Fig. 44, No. 3.

No. 3 represents the usual mode of portraying the antennæ of scorpions, insects, etc., of interest because the word for these in Maya, _matzab_, also means the rays of the sun and of light, and the figure might so be interpreted.

Dr. Förstemann believes that the circle of dots, as in the lower portion of No. 2, means “movement or precession;” as in Cod. Dres., p. 68. The [Illustration] sign is so surrounded, indicating the junction of two time-periods; or, as others would say, the crooked lightning darting from the sky.

In Fig. 51, Nos. 1 and 2, copied from the great tortoise of Copan, show the rain-clouds as conceived by the native artist. In the Codices they are seen in the day-sign _cauac_; and elsewhere. An almost identical conception appears in the pictography of the northern tribes.[128] Seler speaks of them as _Wolkenballen_, “cloud-balls,” an appropriate name for the element.