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

Translation: divine, holy, sacred
Part of speech: Adjective

Spellings of k'uhul

                                 

Houston-HB.p4.para2.l+1                    Jackson&Stuart-AKT.p224.fig9

SBL Stela 9 D2                                        SBL Stela 8 A4

<K’UH:HUL>.<<Seibal-EG>:AJAW>     <K’UH:HUL>.<<Seibal-EG>:AJAW>

 

A black and white drawing of a cartoon character Description automatically generated                                                  

25EMC.pdfp17.r2.c2                K&H.p32.fig11 B4               

                                                     IXZ Stela 4 A1-B5                

K’UH.lu                                        <K’UH:lu>.<5:KAB:AJAW:wa>

 

·     Often underspelled as KUH (in all its variants); here only the fully spelled forms – i.e. those with ‑ul actually present – are shown.

·     Jackson&Stuart-AKT.p219.c1.l+4: The so-called God C main sign read K’UH, for k’uh (god, holy thing). In many contexts, the sign may also serve to represent the derived adjectival prefix k’uhul (holy). Orthographically the God C sign was often reduced to an abbreviated form simply shown as the semicircle of dots before the face, a sign long known in the epigraphic literature as the “water group”.

·     According to CMHI, K&H.p32 is Stela 4 (A1-B5), Ixtutz. This referent of the EG as being Ixtutz is confirmed by Martin-AMP.p396.pdf420 (Ho Kab).

·     Houston-HB.p4.para2.l+1: By Terminal Classic times, the sign [HUL] could be used flexibly to convey sound rather than meaning, as on Seibal Stela 9:D2, K’UH-HUL > k’uhul.