CMGG entry for "{YUK}KAWAK"      (This article is part of the Learner's Maya Glyph Guide and Concordance.)

Alternative readings: CHAHUK?
Translation: Kawak (day 19)
Part of speech: Noun

Logogram spellings of "{YUK}KAWAK"

MC                                

 

·     The 19th day of the Tzolk’in calendar.

·     Variants (1) - features:

o Typically, a “stalactite” / “bunch of grapes” in the top left, though this can be missing.

§ Top: triangle of touching-dots.

§ Bottom: squiggly vertical line.

o Typically a “pond” in the bottom right (can be slightly raise, to be slightly higher on the right wall).

§ Cross-hatched circle: some of the bottom right of the circle is always lost to the surrounding “TV screen” (as it always touches the “TV screen” along a short arc, never at just one point). This results in only 7/8 to 1/2 a circle.

§ A dotted arc on the outside of the cross-hatched circle.

·     Very similar to KABAN:

o In KABAN, the “stalactite” / “bunch of grapes” is replaced by a cross-hatched circle, protected on the right by a curved arc ending in a roughly vertical squiggle.

o In KABAN, the “pond” is replaced by a cross-hatched circle, protected on the top and left by a curved arc ending in a roughly horizontal squiggle.

·     There is a full syllabogram-only spelling of cha-hu-ku è chahuk = “lightning”, but it’s unclear to me whether that has any relationship to the tentatively proposed Classical Maya word for the day name Kawak.

o The words kawak and chahuk do have some phonetic resemblance, though it’s unclear to me if they truly are etymologically related.

o The glyph enclosed in the blood cartouche is KAWAK = “stone”, which isn’t that closely associated with lightning. KAB (for the day name Kaban) = “earth” might have a slightly greater connection (as lightning striking the earth was perhaps thought to be a source of fertility for the earth?), but this glyph is KAWAK and not KAB anyway.