CMGG entry for akan2      (This article is part of the Learner's Maya Glyph Guide and Concordance.)

Alternative readings: AHKAN
Translation: God of the Underworld, God A’
Part of speech: Noun

Logogram spellings of akan2

                                                             

K&L.p31.#2                                                                             TOK.p23.r2.c4              BMM9.p14.r4.c2           

 

25EMC.pdfp29.#1.1&2&3 = K&L.p31.#2.3&2&4

25EMC.pdfp29.#1.1 = K&L.p31.#2.3                                                                                                                                         

25EMC.pdfp29.#1.2 = K&L.p31.#2.2

25EMC.pdfp29.#1.3 = K&L.p31.#2.4

 

                                                                                                            

Grube-WwH.p170.fig3.d                    W. Coe                                             W. Coe                                              Graham/Stuart-MoTMG

                                                               TIK Temple 4 Lintel 3 B6                TIK Temple 4 Lintel 3 G4               TRT Monument 6 F1

AKAN                                                     AKAN.<YAX:ja>                                AKAN.<CHAN:NAL:la>                   AKAN:na

 

·     No glyphs given in K&H.

·     Also known as Schellhas’ God A’, a “God of the Underworld”.

·     Grube-WwH.p169.para2.l-4: the head of the god of drunkenness [stands] for the deity AKAN.

·     EB.p20.pdfp25.#3: theonym.

·     Do not confuse this AKAN with the homonym AKAN = “grass”, “grassland”.

·     Do not confuse AKAN with the phonetically similar AJAN, who is the FMG (“Foliated Maize God”) = “ear/cob of (older) maize” AT-E1168-lecture6.t0:49:55 (FMG/“8”).

·     Do not confuse AKAN / God A’ with God L (later Maximón), who is also a “God of the Underworld”, but distinct from God A’.

·     The reading of the head version of this logogram:

o The word akan has been found in some modern Maya languages as meaning “wasp”.

o There is a connection between this god and wasps (there is a pot where this god is carrying a pot with wasps coming out).

o So the pronunciation of this word was transferred to the reading of his name.

·     See Tracking Maya Deities in the Maya-Codices and Ethnohistorical Sources – Special Workshop – Annotated Sourcebook (Chuchiak, Krempel; 2014) for list of gods and letters.

·     Variants (1) – features:

o A. Human head (sole) variant – features:

§ Top of head: AK’AB.

§ Forehead ornament: single circle with a smaller (optionally cross-hatched) circle inside, touching part of the outer edge (=“eyeball”).

§ Optional CHAPAAT headdress – TIK Temple 4 Lintel 3 B6 is the only one of the given examples to have one, but some of the MHD and Bonn examples have one.

§ Optional gauze facemask, “reminiscent of Zorro” – a horizontal band covering only the eyes (in contrast to the head variant of pa, where the gauze covers all except the mouth and ears).

§ %-sign on cheek.