CMGG entry for "IO"      (This article is part of the Learner's Maya Glyph Guide.)

Translation: “inverted olla”
Part of speech: Noun

Logogram spellings of "IO"

                                      

TOK.p16.r2.c3                 MHD.ZV1.1&2&3                                 T182

?

 

A black and white image of a face  Description automatically generated                                                     

YAX lintel 14 F1a                    YAX lintel 15 D1a               YAX lintel 25 P2a

 

                  A black and white drawing of a face  Description automatically generated       

YAX lintel 27 C1a                   YAX lintel 59 N1a

 

·    No glyphs given in K&H, K&L, BMM9, 25EMC (as expected, as this glyph has no known pronunciation).

·    Features:

o An inverted vase (Spanish olla) with infixed K’IN.

o (Optionally) one or more dots or shortish bars between the K’IN and the lip of the vase (= the bottom of the glyph). Both the dots and bars have a tendency to decrease in size (dots) / length (bars).

·    MHD statistics:

o A search in MHD on “blcodes contains ZV1” (2024-08-05) yields 93 hits, almost all of them either the title “IO” K’uhul Ixik / “IO” Ix K’uh or the simpler title “IO” Ixik.

o Of these 93 hits, approximately:

§ 15 have dots between the K’IN and the lip of the vase.

§ 30 have bars between the K’IN and the lip of the vase.

§ 25 have neither dots nor bars (= nothing) between the K’IN and the lip of the vase.

§ 25 are unclear.

While some glyphs very clearly have dots and others very clearly have bars, it’s difficult to give the exact figures for the different categories because:

§ For partially eroded glyphs, it can be hard to distinguish between a dot and a bar (and so such instances have to be counted under “unclear”).

§ For partially eroded glyphs, what appears to be “nothing” could be totally eroded bars or dots.

§ The difference between a dot and a bar can be vague anyway – ovalish dots could be considered to be bars.

All these “grey areas” mean that the resulting counts above are a bit subjective. What can be said is that a significant number (45 = about half the total) are distinctly either dots or bars.

o A search in MHD on “blcodes contains ZV1” and “bllogosyll contains la” (2024-08-05) yields 31 hits.

§ This shows that a significant number (1/3) of the “IO” glyphs have a la following it.

§ This la can be any one of the different known la variants:

·      There is at least 1 instance of a single “upside down la-face”.

·      There are at least 2 instances of two touching “upside down la-faces” (with nothing in between).

·      There is at least 1 instance of two “upside down la-faces” flanking a triangle of three smaller touching dots.

·      There are at least 3 instances of three touching or non-touching small circles of equal size.

·      There are multiple instances of two larger circles flanking two or three smaller circles (stacked or in a horizontal row). The larger circles could be eroded forms of “upside down la-faces”.

·      There are at least 3 instances of two “YAX-outline” elements (an older form of la) flanking two or three smaller dots.

·    Do not confuse this with the visually similar SIP, which is the inverted vase with infixed “AT”; the la present at the bottom of the “IO” is not a diagnostic, as it can also occur with SIP (also with considerable range of the variants of la, though perhaps less than in the case of “IO”).

·    There is some connection with water in the case of this female title only: in the Madrid Codex there is a female goddess who carries an inverted vase and la is also connected with water (visual connection: the 3 dots look like drops of water).

·    It is often associated with IX-K’UH, a female title:

o The whole ”IO”-IX-K’UH is used as a title for multiple real-life women, associating them with a goddess (in the same way as K’uhul associates male rulers with gods).

o This compound may be given the nickname “IOT” = “inverted olla title”.

o It will be pronounced <X>-IX-K’UH, whatever the pronunciation of <X> = “IO” turns out to be.

o Ix K’uh means “goddess” because K’uh means “god” (literally “Female God”) – do not confuse this with the semantically related female title K’uhul Ixik (“Divine Lady”).

o The “IO” is often associated with IX K’UH, but the converse is not the case – IX K’UH occurs in other contexts without the “IO”.