·     AT-E1168-lecture15.t0:14:43: And at Yaxchilan, they venerated a god of sacrifice, who is like a huge bloodthirsty bird, with no lower jaw. It's generally a human face, but [with] the body of a bird, who basically is devouring the hearts of sacrificial victims, or perhaps taking them to the sky.

·     LopesEtAl-OHHaHP.p78.para1.l+3: The Yaxchilan examples (Figure 2) are all confined to a rather opaque theonym, part of the long string of epithets carried by Kokaaj Bahlam “The Great”. The theonym involves the so-called “Bloody-Mouthed God” (henceforth “BMG”).

·     In TIK Stela 31 D13 and MHD.ST8, the “UHMAN” has a WAAJ in the eye.

·     It appears in the following names (among others):

o Ix “Uhman” Xook: an additional name of Ix K’abal Xook, one of the wives of Kokaaj Bahlam III, a ruler of YAX.

o K’uk’ “Uhman” Yax Kokte’ Ch’ok: a carver from CAY.

o Te’ Kuy Sip Chan “Uhman”: an additional name of Yaxuun Bahlam IV, a ruler of YAX.

o Uhx “Uhman” Chit K’uh: an additional name of Chakaw Nahb Chan, a ruler of CRN.

o Uhx “Uhman” Mat: an additional name of K’an Joy Chitam II, a ruler of PAL.

In fact, the specific combination “Uhx ‘Uhman’” occurs in the names of two different individuals, one in CRN and one in YAX.

·     The word appears only in names (mostly in additional names) – I haven’t seen it in reference to the god himself.

·     The TOK.p25.r2.c4 and TOK.p33.r3.c1 are intended to be an instance of “UHMAN”, but no pronunciation is given.

·     25EMC.pdfp46.#8.3 is mistakenly classed as a head variant of TE’, but it is “UHMAN”.

·     Former proposed reading was uhman, but that is now rejected – Dorota Bojkowska doesn’t know if the old reading was related to UH “moon”.

·     The only source I’ve been able to find which gives the reading “UHMAN” is CMC4.p30.#4, with the gloss ‘ “Messenger God”? ’.

·     Known to end in -n because of phonetic complement:

o Some -na (implies glottalized).

o Some -ni (implies long – i.e. glottalization started to be lost).

o Implies that the root doesn’t have -a- or -i-, but rather -e- or -u-, which is why UHMAN is now rejected.

·     Former proposals for pronunciation:

o AK’IN: CMHI Yax Lintel 25 R1b (mentioned by Zender as the name of the god, meaning “to clear the milpa”, 26^th EMC (2021) at Bratislava with theme “Agriculture”, introductory lecture Agriculture and Aboriculture in Maya Art and Writing).

o CH’AKAN / CH’AKAHAN: Wald-PAHP.p14.para3.l+7, Wald-PAHP.p14.fn4 & Wald-PAHP.p15.fig16.

o UHMAN: CMC4.p30.#4.

·     More recent historical background of decipherment efforts:

o Dmitri Beliaev and Albert Davletshin first proposed UHMAN.

o In some instances of the logogram, there is a bird body.

o Uhman is a known word for a nighthawk in Tz’eltal.

o Some instances are shown with jaguar spots.

o Early versions have what looks like a fish-fin, bird wing, human face.

o It sometimes has a tamale on the head or in the eye (though a “spiral” is more common): TIK Stela 31 D13, Throne from YAX, Collection Sotheby’s.

·     In “Classic - Blocks”, MHD transliterates ST8 and ZL1 as “?? Mut” or “?? Mat”, with the “bird” (MUUT) component as a constant and integral part of the name. This is done for all instances of ST8 and ZL1) – obviously when a MUUT (MHD.BX1) is present or a syllabogram-spelling of mu (MHD.ALE) + ti (MHD.3M2) follow ST8 – but even when neither are present.

·     Variants (2) – features:

o A. Head variant:

§ Simple oval forehead ornament (optional dotted or curved reinforcement on the outer side).

§ Spiral on cheek starting at the mouth or bottom of the nose.

§ No jaw to the left of the spiral, but instead a “tongue” going downwards from right to left (TIK Stela 31 D13 is one of the rare exceptions, with a jaw).

§ It is a distinguishing characteristic that the “tongue” and the “spiral” touch one another – they both descend from the upper jaw touching one another, and then diverge to the left and right respectively.

§ Optional spiral or inverted bold feeler on the top of the head.

§ Optional “mammal ear”.

o B. Boulder variant – a two-part glyph in the vertical dimension:

§ Above: CH’AK (axe).

§ Below: KAB (earth).

The equivalence of these two glyphs was first told to me by Dorota Bojkowska, who learned of it from Sergei Vepretskii.

The alternation / substitution of the head variant and the boulder variant is demonstrated in:

§ Uhx “Uhman” Mat – the childhood name of K’inich K’an Joy Chitam II.

§ Ix “Uhman” Xook – the most important of the three wives of Kokaaj Bahlam III.

§ Te’ Kuy Sip, Chan “Uhman” – part of the extended name of Yaxuun Bahlam IV.