·    Do not confuse this with the visually and phonetically similar JAL – they are very different semantically: JEL = “to replace, change, adorn” whereas JAL = “to weave”.

o Some sources do not distinguish JAL from JEL.

o Both MHD and Bonn make the distinction:

§ MHD reads JEL? with some hesitation (indicated by a question mark).

§ Bonn reads JEL with confidence (no question mark).

o For those which do, JAL consists of two strands actually “interwoven” whereas JEL consists of only two bars “crossing”.

o Prager-TS576.p2.fig1 distinguishes JAL/551st from JEL/153st, but gives the meaning of JEL as “reveal”.

o 153st shows up in Stuart-ANVotSk.fig3a&b, but is not talked about in the text, because the paper is only interested in the k’o-part after it.

o FK Malmö Workshop handbook (2017) p7.r1.c6 gives “JEL/JAL” as alternatives, so it apparently doesn’t distinguish JAL and JEL.

o K&L.p37.#2.1 and 25EMC.pdfp37.#1.3 have the “crossed-bar” (as opposed to the “interwoven strands”) glyph, but it’s given as JAL not JEL. This might have been an oversight, or it might not wish to recognize this distinction, or it might have been a distinction which was discovered after the publication of K&L (2018) and 25EMC (2020).

·    Do not confuse JEL with the visually (slightly) similar WIIN – they both show two crossed elements but:

o WIIN has a face in between the two arms of the top half of the X whereas JEL has nothing.

o JEL consists of sticks bound together, whereas the internal structure of the two crossed elements of JEL is much simpler – more just a spine running down the middle of each band.

·    Meaning:

o K&H.p91.pdfp93.#6: jel- tv 1) to adorn, dress, 2) to change, replace.

o Stuart-TPM.p166: jehl-(a)j-iiy = “(since) it was renewed”.

o EB.p84.pdfp89.#5: jel- tv. to change; to adorn, giving as reference both PAL TC C6a and QRG Stela C B6a.

·    So far, I’ve only seen this verb in the context of the ritual replacement of an object, at around the time of the creation of the current universe (PAL TC C6b-D6a, and QGR Stela C B6). The object in both cases is the k’ob or k’ojob (see k’ob / k’ojob for a discussion about this).

·    The passive in both PAL TC C6b and QRG Stela C B6:

o QRG Stela C B6: The la infixed in the ja is not very clear in the drawings by Hunter and replaced by three dots in the drawing by Schele, but is clear in the drawings of Coll-2, VanStone-MC-A2012.t0:04:51 and the photograph. The presence of the ja shows immediately that the verb is in the passive form.

o PAL TC C6b: The passive is not so clear here. However, we can probably posit je{h}l+aj+jiiy è je{h}ljiiy, with the suppression of the middle vowel when there are three syllables together, with further assimilation of -jj- to -j-.

·    MHD statistics (2024-09-27).

o A search on “blcodes contains ZQ9” yields 22 hits.

o Occurs in CHN, COB, CPN, CRN, HNT (Huntichmul), PAL, PNG, QRG, SBL, UKM (Ukum), i.e., very widely spread in the Classic Maya world.

o A search on “blcodes contains ZQ9” and “blengl does not contain change” and “blengl does not contain renew” yields 7 hits, showing that 2/3 of the instances of JEL relate to change or renewal.

§ PAL Temple of the Cross C6, PAL Temple of the Sun D16, and QRG Stela C B6 all relate to establishment of the “Three Hearthstones” at the start of the current universe on 0.0.0.0.0 4-Ajaw, 8-Kumk’u in 3114 BC.

§ QRG Stela F B16b: relates to the renewal or replacement of an image, in connection with the celebration of a katun period ending (9.15.0.0.0; in 731 AD). In contrast to the other three, this event was in “contemporary” times and doesn’t involve the “Three Hearthstones”.