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

Translation: descend
Part of speech: Verb

Logogram spellings of ehm

                                                                                                                                                                                    

TOK.p31.r2.c2                         K&L.p47.#1.1             K&L.p47.#1.4 [K&L.p47.#1.2&3&5&6 =  Zender-TRGiCMW.p6.c1.fig1.a&b&c&d]               BMM9.p17.r5.c4                   

EHM                                          EM(ACH)                     EM(ACH)                                                                                                                                             EHM

 

                                                                           

Zender-TRGiCMW.p6.c1.fig1.                                                 Zender-TRGiCMW.p8.fig4             Zender-TRGiCMW.p9.c1.fig5

a) TRT monument 6 A10a                                                        vertical text gb#3                           PAL Tablet of the Cross D7-D8

b) TRT monument 6 H10b                                                       Blowgunner Pot K1226            

c) Black on cream vessel, private collection                         EHM.<CHAN:na>                            EHM.<ta:CHAN:na> Palenque-Triad-GI

d) Blowgunner Pot K1226

EHM

 

·     No glyphs given in K&H, K&L.

·     Used more often as a rebus for writing ehm(i) = “to descend” (overwhelmingly so) than for the raccoon as an actual animal. The very few occurrences where it doesn’t write “to descend” are in names/titles referring to a raccoon rather than in sentences referring to actual raccoons. This applies to many other words for animals known in Classic Maya: they occur more often in names/titles than as references to the animal in real-life.

·     As with many Maya verbs of motion, there is an implicit preposition (in this case “from”):

o Zender-TRGiCMW.p8.fig4 (no explicit preposition): ehm-i chan “descends from the sky”.

o Zender-TRGiCMW.p9.c1.fig5 (with explicit preposition): ehm-i ta chan “Palenque Patron God G1 descends from the sky”.

·     Features:

o A mammal head.

o An ear in the top right corner, but not a standard mammal ear, more like a feeler with protector, somewhat resembling the inner element of yi.

o A longish nose, a row of dots forming a spine or reinforcement.