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

Translation: diminish
Part of speech: Verb

Logogram spellings of k'a'

                                                                     

TOK.p7.r3.c3 = BMM9.p18.r6.c4                     K&L.p38.#1                                                                                                           MHD.SBC.2

K’A’                    K’A’                                             K’A’ 

 

                                                                                                               

K&H.p17.#2.1                                                                                                      Stewart-PSaPSS.p51.fig14

YAX lintel 27 A2                                                                                                   Mexican Disc from the Tonina area

K’A’:yi                                                                                                                    K’A’:yi u.<<SAAK/XAAK>:ki> SAK.<IK’:li>

 

                     

K&L.p38.#2                                                                                           MHD.SBC.1&3

K’A’

 

                                                 

TOK.p11.r4.c1                    T627a&b                                             MHD.XF3                            

k’a                                                                                                      K ‘A’

 

                                                                        

Aguateca Archaeological Project                    Schele                                

AGT Stela 19 A2-B2                                           PAL PT D15                       

<NAH:5:TUUN:ni>.<k’a?:{ay}>                        IX.<YAX:K’A’:yi>               

 

·     Meaning – EB.p92.pdfp94: to diminish, terminate, wilt, wither, end, or to die.

·     Variants (3):

o A. Simple wing – features: two parts, each with very slightly curved parallel arcs indicating the feathers.

o B. Complex wing – features: these are seen in connection with “to die”; graphic origin unclear.

o C. Boulder with radial spokes – this is the least common variant:

§ A search in MHD with “blcodes contains XF3” yields 11 hits, some in contexts which don’t enable the assigning of a clear meaning.

§ In fact, TRT Monument 6 seems to be the only one where u-sak-xaak-ik’-il follows. However, this is enough to enable us to read (or at least propose) this “boulder with radial spokes” glyph as being K’A’ (see entry k’a’ay u-sak-xaak/saak-ik’-il = “to die”).

§ It occurs quite distinctly in PAL PT D15, but as part of a name: Ix Yax K’a’ay.

TOK treats this as a syllabogram k’a, whereas MHD treats it as a logogram K’A’.

·     K&L lists the simple wing (“A”) and the complex wing (“B”) in separate boxes, viewing them as different logograms (rather than as being variants of the same logogram), but with identical pronunciation and meaning.

·     MHD does not distinguish the simple wing (“A”) from the complex wing (“B”) and assigns both the code SBC. A search in MHD on “blcodes contains SBC” gives 57 hits. A visual inspection of the 57 hits gives the following statistics:

o Simple wing: about 35 instances.

o Complex wing: about 10 instances.

o Indeterminate (eroded): about 12 instances.

This means that the simple wing variant is by far the most common one.

·     Do not confuse this with the phonetically similar KA’ = “metate”. Both end in -a’, but KA’ = “metate” has initial k-, whereas K’A’ = “to diminish” has initial k’-.