·     In the early days of Maya epigraphy, this was translated as “artist”, but the term is now considered broader than that.

·     AT-YT2021-lecture24 discusses this in quite some detail. Initial comments – AT-YT2021-lecture24.t1:05:54-1:07:30: At the very bottom of Maya political systems, you have these very enigmatic officials called anaabs. We see a lot of anaabs in courtly scenes, those beautiful Bonampak murals – [for example] a lot of people in the scenes are labelled as anaab. And that is applied to (say) musicians, some of these musicians are anaabs; some people dancing with the king are anaabs, some warriors are anaabs, and then a lot of people holding goods – like the pelts of jaguars, necklaces, jewellery, are called anaabs – so [it’s] an important position. [1:06:34] What is also important: people who hold prominent positions highlight the fact that they are anaabs. [Shows a slide of LAC Panel 1 (Dumbarton Oaks Panel)] So this is a provincial governor appointed by the king as sajal, and he is [a] chahoom (a priest), but he is also [an] anaab. It’s interesting that he mentions that his father was also [an] anaab – as something that is worth highlighting, something that is important. And he mentions his anaab credentials and priestly credentials again at the end of the text. So apparently, it’s a good thing to be [an] anaab. [Sim: the protagonist is Aj Sak Teles, who features on LAC Panel 1.] We know that many young people who travel and who leave inscriptions in the great cave of Naj Tunich – making a pilgrimage – are anaabs, [they are] a kind of educated elite.

·     Tokovinine goes on to give more detailed comments about anaab – AT-YT2021-lecture24.t1:07:30-1:09:15: There are different ways to translate the term. It may be related to the term an – like "existence", "essence", with an instrumental suffix, like "the maker". There's also a term for carving instruments that is also an. And so Stephen Houston – my mentor – suggested that anaabs can refer to craftspeople, like the broader term for people who make things. And we know that Maya nobles were engaged in [the] production of beautiful objects. That was actually part of the[ir] noble status. So there were things you can buy in the market and there were things you cannot buy anywhere. And we know from the excavations of the rapidly abandoned Maya city of Aguateca that royal families were engaged in [the] craftsmanship of jewellery, beautiful clothing, objects out of jade and ceramics. Those were things which were not meant to be made by commoners. Those were made by the nobles. Perhaps anaab refers to “making things”. There's also an interesting twist to the term. So when we see signatures of carvers, they are often described as anaab's of their patron. So here's the carver who signed a monument carved at the site of Bonampak, but he's the anaab [or rather] anaabil of the Yaxchilan king. There's another signature of [a] Yaxchilan anaab on the lintel of that palace with those beautiful murals. The murals have no signatures of [the] artists who painted them, but the lintels of that building do – and those are artists from Yaxchilan.

·     Tokovinine elaborates even further on the term anaab, seeking an explanation as to why there appear to be so many anaabs (AT-YT2021-lecture24.t1:09:15-1:12:39.) This is almost as long an explanation as the sum of the above two, so the idea is only summarized here. The theory is that they were not only the artists who created the works of art (though they were these as well), but that they were also the nobles who commissioned the work of the artists (without necessarily being artists themselves). According to this theory, there were many such people because the nobles competed among themselves to be the patrons and sponsors of artistic and other building projects.

·     Dorota Bojkowska (Sergei Vepretskii, personal communication, date?): a-na-bi – different collocation. The root of the word is – an – to carve. And –ab is an instrumental suffix. Probably (Sergei was unsure) Stephen Houston said that anaab is an instrument for carving for a king. For example: uk’ib – is an instrument/vessel for drinking – uk’ – to drink and -ib – instrumental suffix. So here is the same an is to carve, and anaab is an instrument for carving of the king, so probably this guy is an instrument of the king, who carves – so he is an artist. And there is no aj – only a-na-bi.

·     See EB.p24.pdfp29 for references to anabil.