THE P'A SIGN - LOCKING THE BABY JAGUAR AWAY - FREE

THE P’A SIGN – LOCKING THE BABY JAGUAR AWAY Europe C. Mercier and Renato Cottini Giroldo Centro de Investigaciones y Estudios del Sureste Mesoamericano February 22, 2015 Chronological correlation 584,285

FOREWORDS

We commented in THE DOMINO EFFECT – FREE paper that the quest for the missing ejective syllables was not going to be interrupted. In a short time we found p’i (THE P’I SIGN AND MAYA LITTERS – FREE), p’e (THE P’E SIGN AND THE CHOSEN MOTHER – FREE), and several unidentified logographs which had not been previously identified with certainty (all papers can be found at www.academia.edu). Still missing ejective syllables are ch’u, p’a, and t’i, and at the same time nobody has been able up to this day to find so, tso, wu, we, xe, and be is still in doubt.

This paper is the story of the quest for the p’a syllable, and we already had an idea about where to find it.

ANALYSIS

Following the trace left by the p’u syllable, we considered that p’a was to be found in similar contexts, related to activities that usually are painted on containers.

Quickly, the quest zeroed on a series of vessels nicknamed “the baby jaguar”, where the same scene repites itself and can be analyzed by the interested reader following the link

http://research.mayavase.com/kerrmaya.html

The painted scene, with minimal variants, is the capture of a more or less anthropomorphic jaguar cub

(the old deity of darkness and lust) by the rain deity (Chahk), armed with an ax and a ceremonial blunt weapon. A third presence, the death as the cub’s alter ego, completes the scene.

The painted texts are similar, too, locating the event in different mythical dates. Let us begin with 7 ’U’ 7 K’aanasíy, a possible combination:

K0521 (detail)

TRANSCRIPTION VII.U’-VII.TE’:a[K’AN]-ya.YAL:w(a)-K’AWIL:l(a)-VII.SIP:AL-YAX.AAL:AL-CHAK.xa.k(a):AL-

CHAT.TAN:WINIK PHONETIC TRANSLITERATION ’Úuk ’U’ ’úuk K’aana[síy] yaaláw k’awiilÚuk Siipál, Yaaxaál chakxakál, chatanwínik FREE TRANSLATION “Seven ’U’ seven K’aanasíy: Yaaxaál, great provider, sprinkling person, is throwing k’awiilÚuk Siipál”. LITERAL TRANSLATION “Seven ’U’ seven K’aanasíy: First Word, great provider, sprinkling person, is throwing Sinner of the

Dark Dimension, sacred young spawn”. We are only at the first text and some new important epigraphic contributions are already there:

• The name of the deity GI as ’Aál, “Word (of life)”, a detail that let us translate the first glyph of the

Primary Standard Sequence of uncountable vessels as ’aalíy, “it received the word (of life)”, and not the proposed ’aláy, witha poor and hypothetical translation;

• The term xakál as “provider”; • The well-known term chatanwínik as “sprinkling person”, i.e. the supreme aspect of Chahk; • The possibility, relating all the above with the title used by Naranjo (Peten, Guatemala) rulers, of

transliterating said title as saakchatáŋ, “splendid sprinkler”. In fact, the T520 (cha) sign always shows a horizontal line in the upper part, a detail that let us define it as T520h, and propose the CHAT transliteration. Moreover, the title glyph is compounded by the eyelid which surrounds on two sides the “eye of the crying sky” (the rain), a detail that can be immediately appreciated on the “figureheads” of Kohunlich, Quintana Roo, Mexico. Lastly, it allows us to name one of the signs of the 260-day cycle, hypothetically called, up to this day, CHWEN. With very few variants, the date, the scene, and the text, are the same on a second and then a third

vessel; the emphasis in defining the anthropomorphic jaguar as k’awíil, let us understand that it is the adjective used in identifying a sacred young spawn, that in this case can be translated as “baby”:

K1003 (detail)

TRANSCRIPTION VII.U’-VII.TE’:a[K’AN]-ya.YAL:w(a)-K’AWIL PHONETIC TRANSLITERATION ’Úuk ’U’ ’úuk K’aana[síy] yaaláw k’awíil FREE TRANSLATION “On seven ’U’ seven K’aanasíy he is throwing the baby”. LITERAL TRANSLATION “On seven ’U’ seven K’aanasíy he is throwing the sacred young spawn”.

K8680 (detail)

TRANSCRIPTION VII.UH-VII.a[K’AN]:si-ya.YAL:w(a)-K’AWIL-CHAK.xa.k(a):AL PHONETIC TRANSLITERATION ’Úuk ’U’ ’úuk K’aanasíy yaaláw k’awíil chakxakál FREE TRANSLATION “Seven ’U’ seven K’aanasíy: the great provider is throwing the baby”. LITERAL TRANSLATION “Seven ’U’ seven K’aanasíy: the great provider is throwing the sacred young spawn”.

A second date related to the event is 7 ’U’ 3 K’aanasíy, a combination that this time is impossible:

K1644 (detail)

TRANSCRIPTION VII.U’-III.TE’:a[K’AN]-AL:ya.AJ PHONETIC TRANSLITERATION ’Úuk ’U’ ’ooxte’ K’aana[síy] yaaláj FREE TRANSLATION “On seven ’U’ three K’aanasíy he was thrown”. LITERAL TRANSLATION “On seven ’U’ three K’aanasíy he was thrown”.

A third date is 7 ’U’ 10 Saaksihoóm:

K1152 (detail)

TRANSCRIPTION VII.UH-X.SAK:SIH-YAL-VII.SIP:AL-YAX.AAL-YAX.HA’:AL-K’U:CHAT.TAN:WINIK:AL PHONETIC TRANSLITERATION ’Úuk ’U’ lajuúŋ Saaksih[oóm] yáal ’Úuk Siipál Yaaxaál yaaxha’ál, k’u’[ul]chatanwinkál FREE TRANSLATION

“On seven ’U’ ten Saaksihoóm Yaaxaál of the first rain, divine sprinkling person, threw ’Úuk Siipál”. LITERAL TRANSLATION “On seven ’U’ ten Saaksihoóm First Word of the first rain, divine sprinkling person, threw the Sinner of

the Dark Dimension”. Captions TRANSCRIPTION SAK.AJ:AL-WAY:AL-U.WAY:y(a)-b’a.ku PHONETIC TRANSLITERATION Saakajál Waayál ’uwáay b’aák FREE TRANSLATION “The Dream that becomes splendid is the youngster’s alter ego”. LITERAL TRANSLATION “The Dream that becomes splendid is the youngster’s alter ego”. Finally, there exists a fourth date, related to 12 ’U’, but this time joined with 6 Chaakát, another

impossible combination:

K1199 (detail)

TRANSCRIPTION XII.U’-CHAK:AT:t(a).VI PHONETIC TRANSLITERATION Kalajuúŋ ’U’ wak Chaakát FREE TRANSLATION “On twelve ’U’ six Chaakát”. LITERAL TRANSLATION “On twelve ’U’ six Chaakát”. On other vessels the date the date is 7 Kib’, and we can finally get to the point of our paper.

K2208 (detail)

TRANSCRIPTION VII.KIB’-IV.a[K’AN]:si-nu.p’a:n(a)-TSAK.AJ-K’AWIL-VII.SIP-YAX.AAL-CHAK.xa.k(a).AL

PHONETIC TRANSLITERATION ’Úuk Kib’ káaŋ K’aanasí[y] nup’áŋ tsakáj k’awiilÚuk Siíp Yaaxaál chakxakál FREE TRANSLATION “Seven Kib’ four K’aanasíy: Yaaxaál, the great provider, is locking away the captured baby ’Úuk Siíp”. LITERAL TRANSLATION “Seven Kib’ four K’aanasíy: First Word, great provider, is locking away the grasped sacred young spawn

Sinner of the Dark Dimension”. The third glyph is made up by the sequence nu-p’a-na, from which we can reconstruct the term

nup’áŋ. In Bolles’s dictionary we find the following entries, to which we changed the spelling (in clamps) so that the comparison with epigraphic spelling is possible:

{Nup’} Nupp: To close, to meet, to rexist. (cam) {Nup’-aj, -e} Nupp.ah,e: To close him, to meet him, to rexist to him. (belms) {Nup’-aj, -ub’} Nupp.ah,ub: To put a lid and close or to box, or to close with a lid. (mtm) {Nup’áŋ} Nuppan: Something closed and lidded, or boxed. ¶ nuppan v mac v cuchil çabac: the inker

is closed and lidded. ¶ Vnde: nuppan in çacal: I have already finished of weaving my fabric. ¶ nuppaan v çictabal na: The hut has already been covered. ¶ nuppan v chi: He keep his mouth closed; they made him to keep silent. (mtm)

So, the jaguar cub was captured and locked away (i.e. thrown). Where? In an effigy-incense burner,

like it is said on two vessels:

K2213 (detail)

TRANSCRIPTION VII.KIB’-III.ti.a[K’AN]:si-ya.YAL:w(a)-b’a:AL.TUN:AL-VII.SIP:AL PHONETIC TRANSLITERATION ’Úuk Kib’ ’ooxti’ K’aanasíy yaaláw b’aaltunb’a’ál ’Úuk Siipál FREE TRANSLATION “Seven Kib’ three K’aanasíy: ’Úuk Siipál is being thrown into the stone container”. LITERAL TRANSLATION “Seven Kib’ three K’aanasíy: the Sinner of the Dark Dimension is being thrown into the stone

container”. Right-hand caption TRANSCRIPTION SAK.AJ:AL-a.KAM:AL T’E’:u.NE PHONETIC TRANSLITERATION

Saakajál ’aKaamál T’e’ ’une’ FREE TRANSLATION “The Death that becomes splendid”. “Raised is the child”. LITERAL TRANSLATION “The Death that becomes splendid”. “Raised is the child”.

K4056 (detail)

TRANSCRIPTION VII.KIB’-VI.TE’.a[K’AN]:si.y(a)-u.YAL:w(a)-B’AL.b’a:a-VII.SIP:AL-YAX.AAL PHONETIC TRANSLITERATION ’Úuk Kib’ wakte’ K’aanasíy ’uyaaláw b’aalb’a’ ’Úuk Siipál Yaaxaál FREE TRANSLATION “On seven Kib’ six K’aanasíy Yaaxaál threw ’Úuk Siipál into the stone container”. LITERAL TRANSLATION “On seven Kib’ six K’aanasíy First Word threw the Sinner of the Dark Dimension into the stone

container”. Captions TRANSCRIPTION YAX.HA:AL-CHAHK-# SAK.AJ:AL-a.KAM:AL PHONETIC TRANSLITERATION Yaaxha’ál Chahk # Saakajál ’aKaamál FREE TRANSLATION “Chahk of the first rain, #”. “The Death that becomes splendid”. LITERAL TRANSLATION “Chahk of the first rain, #”. “The Death that becomes splendid”.

Back to the p’a syllable, the word nupáŋ is found on other two vessels (K1370 and K1815), even if the

text has faded away. To avoid repeating texts, the scene and the same inscription are found also on vessels K1768, K2207, K3201, K4011, K4013, K4385, and K4486.

CONCLUSIONS

The p’a syllable having been found, we consider it as a “broken” variant of the T504 (AK’B’AL) sign, and numbered it T504e, as usual.

p’a

It is evident, due to the sign characteristics, that de detail that indicates the ejective souns is the

double swirl on top, emerging from the sign itself. Actually, the etymological root is the word

{P’a’} Ppa: To open the earth, or wood, etc. (cam) {P’a’} Ppa: v.a. To open the mouth, to separate two joined, united, or closed things. (jpp) At the end, it is worth mentioning that it is now urgent to apply the recently met syllable in the

contexts that requires it, first of all in Yaxchilan Emblem-Glyph. Like we said before, it is a work that is up to all epigraphers. References cited Aulie, H. Wilbur and Evelyn W. de Aulie 1978 Diccionario ch’ol. Vocabularios Indígenas 21. Instituto Lingüístico de Verano. México. Barrera Vásquez, Alfredo (Director) 1995 Diccionario Maya. Editorial Porrúa. México. Bolles, David 2012 Combined Mayan-Spanish and Spanish-Mayan Vocabularies. Milford, Connecticut, USA. Hurley Vda. de Delgaty and Agustín Ruiz Sánchez 1978 Diccionario tzotzil de San Andrés con variaciones dialectales. Vocabularios Indígenas 22. Instituto Lingüístico de Verano. México. Keller, Kathryn C. and Plácido Luciano G. 1997 Diccionario chontal de Tabasco. Vocabularios Indígenas 36. Instituto Lingüístico de Verano. México. Lacadena, Alfonso and Soren Wichmann 2004 On the Representation of the Glottal Stop in Maya Writing. The Linguistics of Maya Writing. Søren Wichmann, ed. The University of Utah Press. Salt Lake City. USA. Laughlin, Roberto 1975 The Great Tzotzil Dictionary of San Lorenzo Zinacantan. Smithsonian Contributions to Anthropology No. 19. Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington D.C. USA. Martínez Hernández, Juan (Editor)

1929 Diccionario de Motul Maya-Español atribuido a Antonio de Ciudad Real y Arte de la Lengua maya por Fray Juan Coronel. Talleres de la Compañía Tipográfica Yucateca. Mérida, México. Slocum, Marianna C., Florencia L. Gerdel y Manuel Cruz Aguilar 1999 Diccionario tzeltal de Bachajon, Chiapas. Vocabularios Indígenas 40. Instituto Lingüístico de Verano. México.