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

Translation: Itzam (name of a god)
Part of speech: Noun

Logogram spellings of itzam

                                          

TOK.p10.r2.c2                         BMM9.p10.r3.c4                    25EMC.pdfp36.#5.1&2

ITZAM                                       ITZAM                                       ITZAM

 

                                           

BMM9.p14.r2.c2              TOK.p25.r4.c3                    25EMC.pdfp36.#5.3

ITZAM                                 ITZAM

 

                    

BMM9.p14.r2.c3               TOK.p25.r5.c4

ITZAM-KOKAJ                     ITZAM-KOKAJ

 

·     No glyphs given in K&H, K&L, CMC4.

·     Caution: Itzam(na) is not God N. God N is associated with Pawahtuun (old spelling Pauahtun). Wikipedia:

o https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bacab: Bacab [...] is the generic Yucatec Maya name for the four prehispanic aged deities of the interior of the earth and its water deposits. [...] The Bacabs are also referred to as Pauahtuns.

o https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Itzamna: Itzamna was an active creator god, [... he]] was the creator of humankind, and also the father of Bacab [...], a fourfold deity of the interior of the earth.

·     The whole complex of Itzam, Itzamnaaj, Kokaaj, Itzam-Kokaaj is a very vexed question:

o Which glyph is which?

o Is Itzam(naaj) the same as God D?

·     Variants (2):

o A. Knot – features:

§ A long, horizontal, tripartite glyph.

§ Resembles a knot, with a “loop” on the left and a “loop” on the right, with a “knot” in the middle – one of the loops may be leaf-like, with a much thinner parallel leaf above it.

§ The outer sides of the two loops can be bold or reinforced, the insides of the two loops have cross-hatching.

§ The middle usually also has cross-hatching.

o B. Head – features:

§ An old man’s head (with).

§ A round / bulbous nose.

§ Sunken cheeks from a toothless mouth.

§ Two short parallel arcs on the cheeks indicating wrinkles.

§ Optionally an upside-down la-face as the bottom element of a tri-partite “complex ear”.

§ A washer on the right – either as a partitive disk or as the middle element of a tri-partite “complex ear”.

§ A headdress with cross-hatching, very vaguely resembling the Knot variant.