·     For the slight variations in reading, see the comments under the syllabogram-spelling.

·     MHD has assigned ZBD as the 3-letter code for it:

o Reading: IHKATZ.

o Meaning (from the MHD Catalog): “bundle”, “burden”; “precious stone”.

·     MHD statistics:

o “blmaya1 contains ihkatz” – 32 hits.

o “blengl contains precious stone” – 30 hits:

§ MHD translates ihkatz uniformly as “precious stone(s)” in the inscriptions themselves, i.e. in context, the two other Catalog meanings “bundle” and “burden” are not used.

§ The instances of ihkatz not translated as “precious stone” are in names/titles (which MHD doesn’t translate into English).

o “blcodes contains ZBD” – 5 hits:

§ CLK: 1 hit.

§ Ceramics: 2 hits.

§ PAL: 2 hits.

o “blmaya1 contains ihkatz” and “blcodes does not contain ZBD” – 27 hits:

§ Visual inspection of these hits show that they are all syllabogram spellings (i.e. there isn’t another logogram read IHKATZ).

§ This shows that IKATZ is quite a rare logogram – most instances of the word ikatz are written with a syllabogram-spelling.

 

·     JM glosses this as “burden”, “load”, “tribute’ and gives short-a – ikatz.

·     Stuart-VAMN.p499: … the term ikatz or ikitz, “load” or “cargo”.

·     The variation in reading ikatz/ikitz is probably due to the variation in ka-tzi/ki-tzi, and the variation ikatz/ikaatz/ihkatz is probably due whether or not an epigrapher supports the Lacadena-Wichman rules for synharmonic and disharmonic spellings and the degree of confidence put into historical reconstruction based on Colonial Spanish and modern Maya cognates.

·     In AT-E1168-lecture11.t0:07:21, in explaining a jade pendant from PMT, Tokovinine translates ikaatz as “precious jewel”.

·     It occurs in PNG Throne 1 A’1-B’1, where a ruler Ha’ K’in Xook (Ruler 6) abdicated and fled after he “captured” (uchukuw) or “carried (away)” (ukuchuw) the ikitz – in this context interpreted as treasures belonging to the royal household / polity. The JM.p84.#2 example is quite possibly from this inscription. In the MHD translation (objabbr = PNGThr01), ikitz is rendered as “precious stones”.

·     It occurs in PAL TI CT A7 and A8 in the context of chanal ikaatz, kabal ikaatz = “celestial and earthly bundles” (lost reference). Here, as in all other contexts where ikaatz occurs, MHD prefers the translation “precious stone”, yielding “celestial precious stone (and) terrestrial precious stone”. Neither translation results in a meaning that is very clear to me.

·     It occurs in YAX Lintel 1 and YAX Lintel 5 not as glyphic text, but as a tag to the iconography. In each case, Yaxuun Bahlam IV is dancing with one of his wives (Lady Great Skull / Ix Chak Xim in the first case and Lady Six Sky / Ix Wak Jalam Chan in the second). The wife is holding a bundle, tagged as ikaatz.

·     There are also proposals that it can mean “tribute”.  LeFort&Wald-LNoNS32.p112.c2.para3 (1995): The main interest of this short text is that it mentions large quantities. These large numbers, forty and one hundred counted by multiples of twenties, are rare if not unknown in Classic carved inscriptions. This passage clearly refers to the offering or paying of objects in large quantities, likely material made of quetzal and jaguar, possibly as tribute as Stephen Houston has suggested, although the tribute reading for ikatz is still being debated among epigraphers. The basic meaning of ikatz is "burden, bundle" (Stross, 1988), and an alternative interpretation of this text as a reference to bundled offerings also is likely.