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

Translation: east
Part of speech: Adjective

Logogram spellings of elk'in

A drawing of a piece of art  Description automatically generated                                                

K&H.p82.#3                         MC.p125.r1                               MC.p125.r2

EL:<K’IN.na>                        EL:K’IN:na                                  EL:K’IN:ni

 

                                                                                                

MHD. ACB                               1866st                                   Graham                                     StuartEtAl-PNLC                          MHD

                                                                                                 YAX Lintel 53 F3                       CRN Element 55 D4                    “objabbr = COLPanES” Ap03

ELK’IN                                       ELK’IN                                   IX. ELK’IN                                   ELK’IN                                            ELK’IN

 

·     No glyphs given in BMM9, K&L, TOK.

·     BMM9.p103: “east” – cardinal direction; used in the Classic period in the Lowlands; replaced by lak’in in the Postclassic.

·     Variants (2):

o A. EL (“emerge”) + K’IN (“sun”).

o B. The head of a mythical beast with K’IN (“sun”) emerging from its open mouth.

§ Dorota Bojkowska (referring to YAX Lintel 53 F3): probably the open mouth of a snake, with eye (circle in the middle), with an “eyebrow” on the right.

§ MHD (referring to YAX Lintel 53 F3): EL-K’IN “sun emerging from snake mouth”.

§ StuartEtAl-PNLC.p2 (referring to CRN Element 55 D4): A certain scribal flair is evident in these hieroglyphs which display unusual head variant signs and ornate forms, such as the unusual “east” glyph displaying the head of the sun god K’inich Ajaw emerging from the open maw of an alligator.

§ MHD has spotted the commonality of YAX Lintel 53 F3 and CRN Element 55 D4 and has assigned both the codepoint MHD.ACB. There are 6 hits for “blcodes contains ACB” in MHD, of which “objabbr = COLPanES” (“Panel, Private Collection, El Salvador”) Ap03 is another good example. Bonn has also decided to give this variant its own code-point, 1866st.

·     For more information on the non-head variant, see Zender’s explanation under EL – “burn”.