MAYA WRITING: SYNONYMS AND HOMONYMS,

POLYVALENCY AND POLYSEMY

Erik Boot

Introduction

The origins of Maya writing are being pushed back nearly every year,
especially through archaeological discoveries at the Guatemalan site
of San Bartolo. In a recent article, Saturno, Stuart, and Beltrán (2006)
now date the first known example to circa the fourth century bce.
Further discoveries at this site, but also at other sites in the region or
close to where San Bartolo is located (i.e., large sites as Calakmul, El
Mirador, and Tikal [see map in Figure 1] as well as smaller sites as
Cival or La Sufricaya), ultimately may provide yet earlier examples of
Maya writing and possibly the examples of the incipient stages of the
writing system itself.1
The language that gave rise to Maya writing was a lowland Mayan
language, probably an ancestor to (colonial) Ch’oltí’ (now extinct) and
present-day Ch’ortí’ (Houston et al. 2000). Intensive and long-term
interaction (circa 1,000–400 bce) between different but closely related
cultural areas in the Maya lowland region, probably each speaking a
distinct but related Mayan language, may have provided the ground
for the invention and development of a writing system (either through
independent invention and/or adaption of [an] earlier neighboring
script[s] and scribal tradition[s]).2 Including extinct languages belonging

1
A recent study suggests that the earliest syllabic sign inventory hints at a non-
Mayan origin. Based on these syllabic signs, the origin of this inventory probably may
be found in a neighboring Mixe-Zoquean speaking community (Lacadena 2005). If
correct, there would be no incipient stages of “Maya writing,” but more research is
necessary to substantiate a probable Mixe-Zoquean origin. The earliest now known
example of Maya writing provides ancestors to well-known Classic Maya signs and
pre-dates examples of the Isthmian or Epi-Olmec script (Saturno et al. 2006: 2), for
which a Mixe-Zoquean language has been suggested (Justeson & Kaufman 1993, 1997
and Kaufman & Justeson 2004; but see Houston & Coe 2003 and Mesoweb 2004).
2
Currently I am investigating the possibility that several (perhaps) closely related
writing systems were developed in the Maya area, of which examples can be found at
for instance Kaminaljuyu, Takalik’ Abaj, Chalchuapa, and San Bartolo. These scripts

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Figure 1. Map of the Mesoamerica and the Maya Area, major sites indicated
(by the author).

to the Mayan stock or family of languages, over 30 different languages

were spoken in an area now referred to as the Maya area. In the present
day some 25 Mayan languages are still spoken in southeastern Mexico,
Guatemala, Belize, and western Honduras.
Maya writing is best known through its monumental hieroglyphic
inscriptions produced in the Classic period, a period that began at circa

(to represent a or the Maya language) may have been in competition, in which finally
one script took primacy over the others and became the standard for the whole area
(this does not mean that at one point one script “took over,” the other script may have
existed for some time; although in China the first emperor of Qin initiated a script
unification in 221 bce, other writing systems still were employed and even continued
their evolutionary path). Some stylistic traits are shared by some of the scripts, but
sign inventories seem to differ (although this observation is based on a database of
only a small number of early texts, both monumental and portable, that is currently
available). This sceneario may explain why certain early signs never are found in later
texts; these did not make it into the “final” sign inventory as they came to belong to
an obsolete writing tradition.

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 maya writing 255

250 ce and lasted to circa 900 ce, at now well-known archaeological sites
such as Copán, Palenque, Quiriguá, Tikal, and Yaxchilán. Maya writing
is a mixed or logosyllabic script which means that within Maya writing
syllabic signs (i.e., signs that represent CV [consonant-vowel] sounds,
e.g., ba, ma) and logographic signs (i.e., signs that represent CVC or
CVCVC words, CHAN “serpent,” BALAM “jaguar”) were employed
to form linguistic items. In total some 650 to 700 signs were developed.
In the early phase of the Classic period, some 125 to 300 signs were
in use; during the middle phase of the Classic period some 300 to 360
signs were in use. In the late phase of the Classic period some 200 to
300 were in use, while in the late Postclassic period (circa 1250–1500
ce) the Maya screenfold books employed close to 300 different signs
(compare to Grube 1990a: 38–41 & Tabelle 1). While there is a tendency
to employ more syllabic signs towards the late Postclassic period, Maya
writing was and always remained a mixed script.
The title of the 2005 symposium that produced this paper was “The
Idea of Writing: The Use of Polysemy in Writing Systems.” The defi-
nition of polysemy, however, is not an easy one to give. As writing is
based in and on language, I have chosen language as the starting point
for a definition. In this paper I follow the definition given to polysemy
generally followed in the study of linguistic semantics, in which poly-
semy refers to “multiplicity in meanings of words” (Ravin & Leacock
2000: 1) or, more strictly, “the association of two or more senses with
a single linguistic form” (Taylor 1995: 99).
In this paper four language and writing based phenomena will be dis-
cussed. These phenomena are synonymy, homonymy, polyvalency, and
polysemy. As will become clear below, within the Classic Maya writing
system in certain cases some of these phenomena overlap or merge.

Synonymy

In a most basic definition, synonymy refers to the existence of two or

more words that can be substituted in a certain context and which are
considered to be equivalent relative to that context. While these two
or more words have the same (or a very similar) meaning, their lexical
origin or etymology may differ substantially.

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For this essay I have chosen the words and signs in Maya writing3
that refer to the concept of “first.” In Mayan languages there are three
words that convey the concept of “first”:4
nah “first, in front, forward” *nah
yax “first”
bah “front, first” *bah
(Kaufman 2003: 279, 596; Brown & Wichmann 2004: 167, *bAh
“first”)
How could Maya scribes and sculptors employ the concept “first” in
writing? To arrive at the signs referring to the above words for “first,”
these scribes and sculptors employed the phenomenon of homonymy:
words that are spelled or pronounced the same way, but which differ
in meaning (see below).5 The list of words is as follows:

3
In this note the following orthography will be employed: ’, a, b, ch, ch’, e, h, j, i,
k, k’, l, m, n, o, p, p’, s, t, t’, tz, tz’, u, w, x, and y. In this orthography the /h/ repre-
sents a glottal aspirate or glottal voiced fricative (/h/ as in English “house”), while /j/
represents a velar aspirate or velar voiced fricative (/j/ as in Spanish “joya”) (Grube
2004). In this essay there is no reconstruction of complex vowels based on disharmonic
spellings (compare Houston et al. 1998 [2004] and Lacadena & Wichmann 2004, n.d.;
for counter proposals see Kaufman 2003 and Boot 2004, 2005a). In the transcription
of Maya hieroglyphic signs uppercase bold type face letters indicate logograms (e.g.,
NAH), while lowercase bold type face letters indicate syllabic signs (e.g., ba). Queries
added to sign identifications or transcribed values express doubt on the identification
of the assigned logographic or syllabic value (e.g., TIWOL?). Items placed between
square brackets are so-called infixed or layered signs (e.g., CH’AM[K’AWIL]); order
of the transcribed signs indicates the epigraphically established reading order. Older
and obsolete transcriptions and/or transliterations are placed between double pointed
brackets (e.g., «cu»). All reconstructions (i.e., transliterations) in this essay are but
approximations of the original intended Classic Maya (“epigraphic”) linguistic items
(Boot 2002: 6–7), a written language which was employed by the various distinct
language groups already formed in the Classic period. Citing of so-called T-numbers
(e.g., T528) refers to the hieroglyphic signs as numbered and cataloged by Thompson
(1962; the complete list of Thompson’s affixes and main signs can be found online at
www.famsi.org/mayawriting/thompson/index.html).
4
The words at the end of each line are preceded by an asterisk (*), which introduces
a reconstructed form in proto-Mayan. Reconstructed forms are based on Kaufmann
2003. If no reconstructed form is provided, it means I have not found it in the literature
available to me at the time of writing this essay.
5
Not all epigraphers identify the GOPHER logogram as BAH (as I do), but prefer
ba. At the end of the Classic period the BAH sign was acrophonocally reduced to
simply ba. It has to be noted that scribes also employed syllabic spellings for nah
and bah “first.” In the first instance the spelling T23 na was employed for nah, in the
second instance T501 ba was employed for bah. In both cases the scribes employed
abbreviated spellings (as the final -h was not spelled). I am not familiar with a syllabic
spelling for yax with the meaning “first.”

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nah • house (structure) *nhaah

• first, in front, forward *nah
yax • green/blue *ra’x
• first
bah • pocket gopher *ba’h
• face, head *bah
• self, image *bah
• top *bah
• first, front *bah
The reconstructed proto-Mayan shapes (after Kaufman 2003) are
included to show the difference in the origin of the words.6 To represent
the sounds nah, yax, and bah in any context Maya scribes and sculptors
developed a series of signs (Figure 2). As the present identification of
the visual origin of these signs now stands, I interpret the sign for NAH
to represent the base platform of a house (structure) (from *nhaah).
Abstraction, limitation of scribal space, and rotation has led to the fact
that in many cases the sign is not placed horizontally but vertically.
The sign for YAX probably represents an object made of jade, a hard
gem and ornamental stone which is known for its (dark) green to grey
to blue color range (*ra’x “green/blue”; but also, white, orange, violet,
and even black varieties can be found). The sign for BAH represents
the head of a pocket gopher, or tuza in Spanish (from *ba’h). On rare
occasions one of the front paws of the pocket gopher is included (e.g.,
Palenque, Creation Tablet).
It was an ordinal context in which nah and yax were identified by
epigraphers as words for “first” (Schele 1990: 1) (Figure 3a). In this
context a series of a specific event was counted. To refer to the second
and third “counted in order” Maya scribes employed two dots for “two”
(’u-2–ta-la, u-cha’-tal “the second counted”) and three dots for “three”
(’u-3–ta-la, u-’ux-tal “the third counted”). It could, as such, be deduced
that the first reference to the same event, which included the sign for
NAH “house (structure),” had to refer to “first” (’u-NAH-ta-la, u-nah-
tal “the first counted”). Indeed, the word nah meant “first” in several
Mayan languages. The same hieroglyphic sign NAH, to spell the ordinal

6
Absence of a proto-Mayan form only means that this has not yet been proposed
in the existing literature (see note 3). Proto-Mayan forms (when the tentative results
from glottochronology are invoked) are removed circa 1,000 to 1,600 years from the
possible period of the invention (or adoption) of the writing system (circa 1,000 to
400 bce). They are removed some 2,250 to 2,900 years from the Classic period (circa
250–900 ce) in which the majority of surviving hieroglyphic texts was produced.

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Figure 2. The signs for NAH, YAX, and BAH (drawings by Mark Van Stone,
after Coe & Van Stone 2001).

word “first,” can be found in another context (Figure 3b); the spelling
’u-NAH-ta-la CH’AM-K’AWIL-la leads to u-nah-tal ch’amk’awil “(it
is) the first counted k’awil-taking.” This is an event associated with the
taking of office by a king or ajaw; k’awil can refer to the god named
K’awil, or to the statuette representing the god K’awil. In an abbrevi-
ated reference to the same event, the word nah “first” is substituted by
yax “first,” as in YAX-CH’AM[K’AWIL] for yax ch’am k’awil “first
k’awil-taking.”
There is another good example of the employment of yax as “first”
in an ordinal context. A common ceremony among the Classic Maya
was an event that can be described as the “binding of the stone” (Stuart
1996). This ceremony can be found written in various forms, for instance
’u-K’AL-wa[TUN]-ni and ’u-K’AL-wa TUN-ni (Figure 4a) for u-k’al-aw

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Figure 3. a) The sign for NAH in an ordinal count, b) The sign YAX
substitutes for NAH (drawings by Linda Schele).

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tun “he binds/binded stone.”7 However, of this kind of ceremony, which

took place every 360 days, there was a first instance. This first instance
is described as ’u-YAX-K’AL[TUN] for u-yax-k’al-tun “(it is) the first
stone-binding” (Figure 4b). The first instance, in this particular example
at Piedras Negras, was celebrated at the Maya date 9.15.0.0.0 (731 ce),
the last day of a circa 20 year period, a so-called k’atun period-ending.
The Classic Maya k’atun period-ending was thus considered to be the
first in a series of twenty such “stone bindings.”8
There is yet another word for “first”: bah (Schele 1990: 2). An
example can be found in the inscriptions at Palenque (Figure 5). This
example can be transcribed CHUM[mu]- . . . -ni ta-[BAH]hi ch’o-ko-
le-le 3-K’UXAN?-na ma-ta ’i-tz’i-WINIK K’UH-BAK-la-’AJAW for
chum-(w-a)n-Ø ta bah ch’oklel ux k’uxan(?) mat itz’i(n)winik k’uhul
bakal ajaw “sits/sat in first heir-ship, Ux K’uxan(?) Mat, younger
brother, God-like King of Bakal (Palenque).”9 Although at any given
time there could be more than one heir to the position of king, there
was only one that was specifically marked as bah ch’ok “first heir” and
the position to which he acceded or was seated was named bah ch’oklel

7
Most problematic is the interpretation of tense and aspect within Classic Maya
verb conjugations: Does a verb refer to an action performed in the past or the present,
and what aspect does it carry? I take a so-called (Initial Series and) Calendar Round
date in any hieroglyphic text to function as an temporal adverb, as such placing in the
past any action as described by a verb unless a Distance Number carries the action to
the future (compare to Houston 1997, Wald 2000).
8
The Classic Maya employed an ingenious place notational calendar system in
which units or cycles of increasing length were counted, that represented the amount
of days as counted from a zero point. The Maya counted the units of one day (named
k’in), of twenty days (winal or winik), of 360 days (tun or hab), of 7,200 days (k’atun
or winikhab), and 144,000 days (bak’tun or pik) (these cycles together are referred to
as “Long Count”). There were even larger cycles. The Maya also employed a combined
calendar that counted and named days in a cycle of 260 and in a cycle of 365 days.
The reconstructed date 9.15.0.0.0, 4 Ajaw 13 Yax in Figure 4b informs us of the fact
that 9 × 144,000 days and 15 × 7,200 have elapsed since the zero point and that this
day has reached 4 Ajaw in the 260 day calendar and 13 Yax in the 365 day calendar.
Through a most probable correlation (584,285; see Lounsbury 1982: 166) between the
Maya and Christian calendar, this date can be placed in 731 ce. In all probability, the
“Maya calendar” (specifically the “Long Count”), as it is often referred to, was not
invented by the Maya themselves, but adapted from a neighboring non-Mayan speak-
ing community or communities as the oldest examples are found in places encircling
the Maya area.
9
Here -Ø indicates the third person singular of the absolutive set of pronouns, as
employed in intransitive verb contexts, which is “empty” and thus not pronounced
or written.

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 maya writing 261

a)

b)

Figure 4. a) The phrase u-k’alaw-tun (drawings by David Stuart); b) The phrase

u-yax-k’al-tun at G3 (drawing by Mark Van Stone).

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Figure 5. The reference to bah ch’oklel at Palenque (drawing by Linda Schele).

“first heir-ship.”10 While this phrase may convey a strict ordinal sense
to the position of ch’ok “heir,” the actual sense it conveys is one of
hierarchy. The bah ch’ok is more important than any other ch’ok. To
this particular case I return below.

10
The noun ch’ok literally means “unripe one, young one (youngster).” In the
Palenque context the word ch’ok refers to the one who will inherit his father’s kingship.
The meaning “heir” is thus a semantically derived meaning. That is why he is seated
in bah ch’oklel “first heir-ship.”

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Within the corpus of Classic Maya hieroglyphic texts that I currently

have available, there is no overlap between nah and yax “first” on the one
side and bah “first” on the other. That fact may be based on the context
in which nah and yax are employed, which is ordinal. The context in
which bah “first” is employed is hierarchical.

Homonymy

In a most basic definition, homonymy (or homophony) refers to the

relation between two or more words that are spelled or pronounced the
same way but differ in meaning. Thus although two or more words are
spelled or pronounced the same way, they differ in lexical origin.
To my knowledge, the phenomenon of homonymy in Maya hiero-
glyphic writing was first described in detail by Stephen Houston (1984).
He described how the signs “four,” “sky,” and “serpent” (Figure 6) could
substitute for each other. In the first example, two variations of the same
nominal phrase provide a substitution between the signs for “four” and
“sky” (Figure 7a). The spelling TIWOL?-FOUR-ma-ta is substituted
by TIWOL?-SKY-ma-ta.11 As these nominal phrases refer to the same
person (the father of one of the Palenque kings), the signs FOUR and
SKY should represent the same value. The second example provides
the same relationship statement between two people (Figure 7b).
The spelling ’u-SERPENT-na bo-bo is substituted by the spelling ’u-cha-
SKY-na bo.12 As the same relationship statement is recorded, the signs
SERPENT and SKY should represent the same value. As SKY substitutes
for FOUR in the first example and SKY substitutes for SERPENT in
the second example, all signs should represent the same value.
Houston (1984) presented a short table containing linguistic data
through which it became clear that the Mayan words “four,” “sky,” and
“serpent” were very close homonyms (or homophones) and, as such,

11
The value TIWOL? for the sign depicting a LONG.LIPPED.HEAD is tentative.
It is based on other examples of this nominal phrase at Palenque in which the LONG.
LIPPED.HEAD is substituted by a syllabic spelling ti-wo and in which the LONG.
LIPPED.HEAD is postfixed with a sign for la.
12
The hieroglyphic sign for cha in this transcription was not yet deciphered when
Houston presented his case in 1984. This sign for cha was deciphered by Barbara
MacLeod in the early 1990s, based on the logographic value CHAN for all three signs,
as discussed further below in the main text of this essay. It should be noted that there
is growing evidence that the putative cha sign and the serpent logograph actually
form one sign with the value CHAN. Also the sign value bo was not yet deciphered.

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Figure 6. The logograms FOUR, SKY, and SERPENT (drawings by the author).

Figure 7. a) The collocations TIWOL?-FOUR-ma-ta and TIWOL?-SKY-ma-ta;

b) The collocations ’u-SERPENT-na bo-bo and ’u-cha-SKY-na bo (drawings
and value assignments by the author).

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Table 1. Words with the meaning “four,” “sky,” and “serpent”

(linguistic data adapted from Kaufman, 2003).
Language Four Sky Serpent

Proto-Mayan *kaanh *kaan *ka’nh

Yucatec kan kan ka’(a)n
Ch’ol chän chan chan
Ch’olti’ – chan chan
Ch’orti’ chan chan chan

the signs could substitute for each other. Recent linguistic research
provides the possibility to expand his original and correct assessment
(Table 1).
The three reconstructed words in proto-Mayan with the meaning
“four,” “sky,” and “serpent” already show that the words were pro-
nounced in a very similar manner. This similarity is also apparent
in Yucatec Maya and in Ch’ol. Most interesting are the entries in
Ch’olti’ and Ch’orti’, the eastern Ch’olan languages, in which all three
words are true homo-nyms.13 If chan is the correct gloss for all three
words, each of the hieroglyphic sign represents the logographic value
CHAN. The spellings in the first example can thus be transcribed as
TIWOL?-CHAN-ma-ta for tiwol chan mat, while the spellings in the
second example can be transcribed as ’u-CHAN-na bo-bo which is
substituted by the spelling ’u-cha-CHAN-na bo for u-chan bob.14 In
the last two phrases the relationship statement u-chan would have the
meaning of “the guardian of,” a suggestion actually based on a close
homonym cha’an, a verb root with the meaning “to guard” (as sug-
gested by Alfonso Lacadena).
Close and true homonyms are the base for a large set of Maya hiero-
glyphic signs that substitute for each other.15 This writing principle

13
Although it has to be noted that Ch’olti’, a now extinct language, is only known
from a couple of seventeenth century sources in which no gloss for the word “four”
is found. However, as Ch’olti’ and Ch’orti’ are sister languages, the gloss for the word
“four” would probably have been a close if not a true homonym to the other words
“sky” and “serpent.” According to one group of linguists and epigraphers, an ancestor
to the Ch’olti’ language was the language that gave rise to the Maya script (Houston
et al. 2000). Also see “Introduction” of this essay.
14
Maya scribes abbreviated their spellings in many contexts, especially within
nominal phrases. As the spellings ’u-CHAN-na bo-bo and ’u-CHAN-na bo refer to
the same person, the spelling bo is simply an abbreviation of bo-bo for bob.
15
During the Classic period the signs T95 ’IK’ BLACK and T503 ’IK’ WIND never
substituted for each other, although (if their reconstructed sounds for the Classic period

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is often referred to as the “rebus principle.” Space and subject limita-

tions for this essay do not permit a further excursion to illustrate a
large variety of examples, but the reader can turn to the examples
of synonyms in the first section above. While nah, yax, and bah are
synonyms for “first,” the logographic signs employed in the context of
“first” are based on their homonymic quality (nah “house,” yax “blue/
green,” bah “pocket gopher”).

Polyvalency

In a most basic definition, polyvalency refers to the multiple meanings

or values, related or unrelated, a single item or sign can have while,
relatively speaking, its shape or design is the same.
While such signs exist in Maya writing, either context, the employ-
ment of a semantic determinant, or phonetic complementation actually
set apart signs of similar or the same design. The example I illustrate here
is one often employed in Maya studies (e.g., Coe & Van Stone 2001: 25),
but here I present additional detail in the discussion. The hieroglyphic
sign involved is one cataloged by Thompson (1962) as T528. This sign
occurs in different contexts and within each context it has a different
value (Figure 8). The values are CHAHUK (formerly “KAWAK”), TUN,
and ku. However, the manner in which the sign T528 is employed in
each context directs the reader to its correct value.
In the descent line on the left T528 is placed within a cartouche, which
Maya epigraphers refer to as a “day sign” cartouche. In the monumental
inscriptions, as well as in most painted texts, each day sign (of which
there are twenty) obtains a cartouche in the context of its employment
as a day sign. The day signs have a specific order, and T528, with a day
sign cartouche, is the nineteenth day sign. This sign has been ascribed
the value or name kawak in earlier studies, based on the fact that within
the colonial Yucatec Maya calendar the nineteenth day was known as
Kawak (or «cauac» in the old [colonial] spelling) and was named and
illustrated as such in the “Relación de las cosas de Yucatán” as writ-
ten by Diego de Landa.16 However, during the Classic period most of

are correct [e.g., Stuart 2005: 80]) these signs are clearly homonymic. Possibly this is
due to the fact that ik’ “black” descends from *’ejq’ or *’ehq’ (note *q’eq “black” for
Highland Maya languages) and that ik’ “wind” descends from *’i’q’ (Kaufman 2003:
231,492; compare to Brown & Wichmann 2004: Table 5 and 169, *ii’hq’ “wind”).
16
The original manuscript is from 1566 and survives through a copy made in the late
seventeenth and possibly the early eighteenth century. In this manuscript the twenty

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Figure 8. Polyvalency: Different contexts for T528 (drawings by Mark Van

Stone [after Coe & Van Stone 2001], arrangement and value assignment by
the author).

the day signs had a different name since those names were based in a
Mayan language different from Yucatec Maya. That language may be
an ancestor of a language or several languages in the eastern Ch’olan

day signs are illustrated through their Late Postclassic variants with their Yucatec
Maya names. The manuscript also contains the “Landa alphabet,” the sign list which
has proven to be the gateway to the decipherment of Maya writing as discovered by
the Russian scholar Yuriy Knorozov in the early 1950s (see Coe 1992).

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language group (compare Houston et al. 2000). Possibly the Classic

Maya name for this day was chahuk “thunder; lightning.”17
In the descent line in the middle, T528 obtains a -ni phonetic comple-
ment. The sign combination T528–ni is read TUN-ni and it occurs for
instance in the spelling po-po-TUN-ni for poptun “mat-stone,” a place
name. In the descent line on the right, T528 is combined with the sign
for ’a to arrive at ’a-ku. Here thus T528 has the syllabic value ku, a value
based on the occurrence of the T528 sign in the alphabet as provided by
Landa (assigned with the value «cu», now ku).18 The sign combination
’a-ku leads to ak (*ahk, see Kaufman 2003: 634 [Lowland Languages
& Western Mayan]), the word for “turtle” (this sign combination also
substitutes for the logographic sign ’AK TURTLE).
There is yet a fourth context in which T528 occurs. It is employed
as the main sign of four Classic Maya month names (actually periods
with a length of 20 days). These month names contain color prefixes
and can be compared to a series of month names still (or at least during
the last century) in use among Q’anjob’al speakers in the department of
Huehuetenango in Guatemala, namely ik’ sihom, yax sihom, sak sihom,
and chak sihom (Edmonson 1988, Thompson 1950). The sign T528 in
this particular context may have represented the value SIHOM (after
a suggestion by David Stuart), evidence for which may be found in the
optional phonetic complements -ma (common) and -mo (rare).
Polyvalency of T528 in Classic Maya writing is thus restricted, as
scribes employed different methods to distinguish the same sign or
very similar signs in different contexts. To differentiate between the
different values the scribes employed a semantic determinative (a day
sign cartouche) or phonetic complements (-ni; -ma, -mo). Although

17
I base my assumption on the occurrence of the spelling cha-hu-T528 at Piedras
Negras (Throne 1), although it has to be specifically noted that this example is outside
the context of a day sign. Most commonly, this collocation is transcribed cha-hu-ku
(as T528 has the syllabic value ku; see main text). The word chahuk means “lightning”
and “thunder” and it survives in colonial and present-day languages, for instance, as
chaak (Yucatec), chauk (Tzotzil), chahwuk (Tzeltal), chahwuk/chajuk (Tojolab’al),
kahoq/kohoq (Pokomchi’), and kaaq (Q’eqchi’). Reconstructed forms are *kahoq in
proto-Mayan and *chahuk in proto-Cholan) (Kaufman 2003: 489). Since kawak has
no meaning in colonial (or present-day) Yucatec Maya other than being a day name, it
actually may be a loan word (but from which language?) or an ancient, obsolete word
for “lightning” and “thunder.”
18
It was from the occurrence of multiple signs for one alphabetic letter (representing
a sound as pronounced in sixteenth century Spanish, e.g., /b/ > “be,” /h/ > “hache”) and
signs that represented two sounds («ca», «cu», «ku») that Yuriy Knorozov concluded that
the “Landa alphabet” actually was a collection of syllabic signs in alphabetic order.

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rare, there are other signs that may be polyvalent, but in which again
context or phonetic complementation indicates the correct value (e.g.,
the sign known as T24 CELT/MIRROR).

Polysemy

In a most basic definition, polysemy refers to a word that has multiple

senses or meanings, which are derived from the same etymology, and
which are employed in different but semantically related contexts. In
the study of linguistic semantics, polysemy refers to “multiplicity in
meanings of words” (Ravin & Leacock 2000: 1), “the association of
two or more senses with a single linguistic form” (Taylor 1995: 99).
Polysemy is an important field of study within linguistic semantics.
The analysis of polysemy and the processes that govern the polysemiza-
tion of linguistic forms (leading to different senses and sub-senses) is
regarded to be fundamental for understanding language acquisition and
accurate reading, i.e., word sense disambiguation (compare Geeraerts
2001, Kilgarriff 1997, Ravin & Leacock 2000: 1–6, Tani n.d.). It is spe-
cifically accurate reading (in the present case Maya hieroglyphic texts)
that involves polysemy. Here I will describe three cases of polysemy.
Based on a variety of Western and Lowland Mayan languages, the
verb root pak- can be found defined as:
pak- • to fold *paq
• to weed
• to turn over, to reverse
• to somersault
(Kaufman 2003: 1436; compare to Brown & Wichmann 2004: 176)
Although tentative, the basic meaning of the root pak- may have
been “to fold.” From this meaning the other three senses seem to
be derived. “To weed” can be described as “to fold” the ground in a
turning or reversing motion, which would explain its use as “to turn
over, to reverse” in other contexts. “To somersault” is, as such, derived
from the already established senses or meanings, although now in the
context of acrobatics performed with the (human) body. All contexts
involve motion and thus seem to be logically derived in a process of
polysemization.
A first example of the root pak- can be found in a text panel with
accompanying illustration on a bowl now in the collection of Dum-
barton Oaks in Washington, D.C. (Figure 9). The illustration shows

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270 erik boot

Figure 9. Panel on a carved bowl, collection at Dumbarton Oaks (drawing by

Simon Martin, value assignment by the author).

a depiction of a Maize God-related deity (cacao pods are attached

to the body) (Martin, in Miller & Martin 2004: 78). His body is in
motion. The particular motion is described in the short hieroglyphic
caption that accompanies the illustration. The first collocation can be
transcribed pa-ka-la-ja for paklaj. Here one can recognize the root
pak-, to which is added the suffix -l-aj. This suffix, common to Classic
Maya and several present-day Mayan languages, occurs on verb roots
that “refer to physical states or positions” (hence known as “positional
verbs”) (Bricker 2004: 1063). The senses as mentioned above now come
into play. The motion depicted is one of turning over or reversal; “to
somer-sault” might be the correct description of the action depicted.
The shape pak-l-aj-Ø would mean “(he) somersaults,” or in a more
basic sense “(he) turns over.” The actual name of the deity follows in
the second and third collocation.
The root pak- can also be found in a different, but semantically
related context. Within Maya writing, a large host of objects can be
found, each referred to by its proper name. One of these objects is the
stone lintel, which, at different places in the Maya lowlands, was carved
with short or long dedicatory phrases. One such dedicatory phrase
can be found on a lintel of unknown provenance (Figure 10). After

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 maya writing 271

Figure 10. Lintel of unknown provenance (drawing by Christian Prager, value

assigment by the author).

the dedicatory verb (i-k’a[h]laj-Ø “then is presented”), one can find

the sequence ’u-pa ka-bu TUN-ni-li for upak(a)b(u)tunil. This item
can be analyzed as u-pak-(a)b(u)-tun-il, in which one can identity the
root pak- and a -Vb derivational suffix. A lintel is a “turned-over” or
“reversed” stone, as the carved side is turned over when the lintel is
finally placed during the building process. Here pak- refers to “to turn
over, to reverse” and the item u-pak-(a)b(u)-tun-il can be paraphrased
as “(it is) the/his turned-over stone.”19
A second example of polysemy can be found in the root tz’ap-. This
root can be found defined in several Mayan languages as:

19
The Early Classic item pak(a)b(u)tun (the date on the lintel falls in 513 ce) or
perhaps pakbu’tun evolves to pakabtun (pa-ka-ba TUN-ni) or simply pakab (pa-ka-ba)
(the collocations itself were deciphered first by David Kelley) and can, as such, be
found mentioned in dedicatory phrases in the Late Classic (870–890 ce) inscriptions
at Chichén Itzá (Boot 2005b: 318–344).

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tz’ap- • to drive in the ground

• to sow (corn), to plant
• to superimpose, to put one thing on top of another
• to close
(compare to Kaufman 2003: 864)
The widespread distribution of the syllabic spelling tz’a-pa-ja was first
described by Nikolai Grube (1990b). He transliterated this spelling as
tz’a[h]paj and identified tz’ap- as the root for “to drive in the ground,”
based on a comparison with the root tz’ap- “to sow (corn), to plant.” The
verb was followed by a reference to a stela, a standing stone monument
part of which was driven into ground to keep it erect. More recently, it
was David Stuart (2004) who suggested that there might be a logogram
with the value TZ’AP (Figure 11a). This logogram illustrates a maize
cob resting on top of an earth sign. A knot is depicted to the right of the
two signs (as if these are tied together). To understand this logogram,
Stuart (2004: 2) invoked one of the Yucatec Maya meanings of the verb
tz’ap-, “to put one thing on top of another.” I hold his identification to
be correct, specifically as the complex logographic sign indeed depicts
one thing on top of another. The fact that a corn cob is placed above
an earth sign invokes yet another meaning of tz’ap- “to sow (corn),
to plant.” The example, as identified by Stuart, can be transcribed
TZ’AP ’u-LAKAM-TUN-li for tz’a[h]p(aj) ulakamtunil “driven is in
the ground/planted is the large stone.”20 Another example identified
by Stuart (Figure 11b) can be transcribed tentatively as tz’a-TZ’AP-ja
’u-LAKAM TUN for tz’a[h]paj ulakamtun(il) “driven is in the ground/
planted is the large stone.” The common manner to describe this par-
ticular monument dedication was deciphered by Grube as tz’a-pa-ja
’u-LAKAM[TUN]-li for tz’a[h]paj ulakamtunil (Figure 11c). When the
root tz’ap- is found in Maya texts, it is the meaning “to drive in the
ground/plant” that is commonly intended.21

20
In Classic Maya inscriptions, scribes employed a large amount of abbreviations.
These abbreviations occur also in the conjugation of verb roots. Here the logogram
TZ’AP occurs in a context in which the root tz’ap- possibly should have a verbal end-
ing -aj (thematic suffix on passives), which is not written (and thus abbreviated). The
common spelling chu-ka-ja for chu[h]kaj “captured is” on one occasion is abbreviated
to just chu (Kerr No. 2352).
21
There is a passage in the Codex Madrid (Page 112C), dedicated to bee cultivation,
in which one can find the phrases ’u-tz’a[pa] ’u-KAB-ba for utz’apa[w] ukab and
tz’a[pa]-ja ’u-KAB-ba for tz’a[h]paj ukab, possibly with the meaning “he closes the
beehive” and “closed is the beehive” respectively. Vail and Hernández (2005) prefer
“setting up the beehive” for these phrases. Due to the polysemous character of the word
tz’ap- there is no simple solution to these phrases and their prospective meaning.

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Figure 11. a) The TZ’AP logogram; b) The spelling ’u-tz’a-TZ’AP-ja; c) The

spelling tz’a-pa-ja (after Stuart 2004, arrangement and value assignment by
the author).

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274 erik boot

The third example of polysemy is a word which has been discussed

above in the section of synonyms, the word bah:
bah • face, head *bah
• self, image *bah
• top *bah
• front, first *bah
The context in which it was discussed above was one in which bah
referred to “first.” As noted above, I have not yet identified a context in
which nah, yax, and bah for “first” all could substitute for each other.
The words nah and yax were used in ordinal contexts as “first,” while
bah was used in hierarchical contexts as “first.”
It is the polysemous character of the senses of the word bah that
may explain its particular usage as “first” in a hierarchical context. Its
basic meaning may have been “face, head” and it was this particular
sense employed in other contexts that led to the meanings “self, image,”
“top,” and “front, first.” For an explanation of bah “face, head” to be
employed as “front, first” one can even turn to the English language.
For example, there are many masters at a school, but there is only one
head master. There are many offices, but only one head office. The
body derived “head” for “first” indicates that the ranking value “first”
is layered vertically, from “top” to “bottom.” This bah “first” is inher-
ently hierarchical, and thus different from nah and yax “first” which
are “first” in an ordinal context which is not hierarchical. To spell bah
not only the logographic sign BAH GOPHER was employed, but also
the syllabic sign ba (as an abbreviated spelling for bah). There are many
examples of bah “first” in a hierarchical context (Figure 12). As such
there are bah ajaw “first or head king,” bah ch’ok “first or head heir,”
bah (y)al “first or head of the children (of mother),” bah uxul(?) “first
or head carver,” and bah sajal “first or head local/provincial leader.”22
The word bah “face, head” also can be found in the context of por-
traiture. The sign employed is again the BAH GOPHER, thus through
a homonym one arrives at bah “self, image,” i.e., portrait. The top part
of Naranjo Stela 22 (Figure 13c) provides a portrait of the king K’ak’
Tiliw Chan Chak “Raingod Chak who Kindles the Sky with Fire.” The
hieroglyphic signs that spell his name are even contained in his head-

22
There are nearly twenty different titles in which a hierarchical difference is indicated
through the adjective bah “head, first” (Boot 2005b: 184 [note 7]).

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 maya writing 275

Figure 12. A selection of bah “head, first” titles (drawings by various authors).

dress. His portraiture is introduced through the collocation marked by

an arrow and which is shown enlarged directly above the top part of
the stela (Figure 13b). This collocation is spelled ’u-BAH-hi, employing
BAH GOPHER (Figure 13a). This collocation (for which also ’u-[ba]
hi can be employed) can be transliterated ubah(il) for “(it is) the self,
image (portrait) (of )” (Houston and Stuart 1996), after which the name
of the king follows.
The three examples of polysemy as discussed here were pak-, tz’ap-,
and bah-. All three examples provided closely related senses or mean-
ings in related but slightly different semantic contexts. The examples
presented here may be considered cases of logical polysemy; the original

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276 erik boot

Figure 13. a) The BAH logogram (drawings by Mark van Stone); b) The
spelling ’u-[BAH]hi (drawing by Ian Graham); c) Naranjo Stela 22, top part
(drawing by Ian Graham).

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 maya writing 277

sense can still be found within the derived senses through their context-
bound employment.

Final Remarks

In this paper, four writing and language phenomena were discussed,

namely synonymy, homonymy, polyvalence, and polysemy. Polysemy
was the subject of the symposium. As the examples illustrated and
discussed in this essay indicate, cross-overs between the phenomena
can be easily identified.
The synonyms nah, yax, and bah “first” employed signs that were
chosen for their homonymic or homophonic quality. Nah and yax
meant “first” in an ordinal context, but bah was employed as “first”
in a hierarchical context. Thus nah and yax on the one side and bah
on the other side are not true synonyms as their usage is restricted to
context. The meaning bah “first” was actually a polyseme, as its sense of
bah “first” was derived from its meaning as bah “face, head.” In regard
to polysemy, three words and their senses were described (pak-, tz’ap-,
and bah) as well as their employment in Maya writing.
The polysemous character of words is of great importance in the
construction of word lists, lexicons, and vocabularies. Now that sev-
eral preliminary Classic Maya word lists and vocabularies have been
constructed (e.g., Boot 2002, Montgomery 2002, Stuart 2005: 79–90),
research on the polysemous character of words should take a serious
form if we really want Classic Maya hieroglyphic texts to speak for
themselves and convey their true and originally intended sense and
meaning. This means that the study of Maya writing has to be combined,
on any level, with the study of Mayan languages.

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