·       No glyphs given in K&H.

·       Meaning:

o BMM9, K&H, K&L: cormorant.

o EB.p127.pdfp132.#3: merganser duck (?), “duck”.

·       EB.p127.pdfp132.fn181: In previous research mat has been interpreted as cormorant. Linguistically, this has not much support and possibly mat refers to a species of migratory ducks (e.g., Chontal mat, "patillo") (Nick Hopkins, personal communication, June 26, 2007; also see Stuart 2005: 21-22). The head of the bird depicted in the glyphic sign (T793a) does not support a cormorant identification (as that bird species has a very long thin beak), but the head of a merganser duck seems plausible. Merganser ducks have rows of small teeth so fish that have been caught do not fall out of their beak. Based on the matawil place name I suggest that mat is a reduction of mataw "merganser duck" (note 'i-chi-wa > ichiw "heron," but also WAY-ya-wa > wayaw "familiar, spirit companion"). See matawil.

·       Dorota Bojkowska: This suggestion of EB’s does not seem to have been adopted by any other epigraphers:

o Helmke & Krempel did a study devoted to animals and birds in Maya iconography, and yet still give this as “cormorant”.

o It’s unclear if the Helmke & Krempel study resulted in a paper, but they have led two workshops on the topic.

·       Features:

o The tip of upper beak is very “high” (higher than the level of the eye).

o (Optionally) the edge of the upper beak is serrated.

o The top and/or top right and bottom right of the head is “tufted”.

o (Optionally) the eye is a circle divided by a horizontal line into a top and bottom half:

§ Top half: the floor has a series of very short vertical ticks.

§ Bottom half: the ceiling has a dot hanging from the middle.

·       Mat occurs in the name of one mythical figure and three quite well-known historical individuals (all of them are associated with PAL):

o Muwaan Mat: the father of the Palenque Triad.

o Ajen Yohl Mat: the ruler of PAL a few years before the possible hiatus preceding Pakal the Great’s accession to power.

o Uhx “Uhman” Mat: the pre-accession name of K’inich K’an Joy Chitam II.

o Tiwol Chan Mat:

§ The younger brother of K’inich Kan Bahlam II and K’inich K’an Joy Chitam II.

§ He never ruled in his own right (died before his elder brothers), but his son K’inich Ahkul Mo’ Nahb III succeeded K’inich K’an Joy Chitam II.

Muwaan Mat and Uhx “Uhman” Mat are given above with logogram spellings of Mat, and Uhx “Uhman” Mat, Ajen Yohl Mat, and Tiwol Chan Mat are given below with syllabogram spellings (ma-ta).

·       PAL TC & PAL TI ET (and T793b):

o These all show the conflation of MUWAAN and MAT – there is a feather in the mouth of the bird (=MUWAAN) and there is a distinctly upturned beak (=MAT). The feather is less obvious in the case of PAL TC C1 and PATL TI ET, but very clear in PAL TC F3 & F8.

o There is an additional element above the MUWAAN+MAT. Is this NUUN?

·       Thompson distinguished T793a from T793b as slightly different visually, but nevertheless grouped then together under the same T-number, as T793. He apparently didn’t realize that the feathers in the mouth of T793b indicate MUWAAN rather than MAT. TCMH.p377.pdpf198 is where T793a and T793b are given, with one of the sources being PAL Temple 18 Tab(let?) A15.

o MHD does not list a tablet for Temple 18, only two stucco pieces, a censor stand, an incised shell, and a jamb.

o PAL Jamb A15 is a MAT and the drawing (by Sánchez, from Lhuillier-EAeP.p117-184.fig16) shows a pure MAT (no feathers in the mouth). So the Thompson reference TCMH.p377.pdpf198 of PAL is probably for T793a. It’s hard to trace the source of T793b, but it has a high / upturned upper beak, in any case, so it too is a conflation of MUWAAN and MAT, very much like the PAL TC and PAL TI examples given above.

Summary: T793a is MAT, but T793b is MUWAAN+MAT, not another example / variant of T793a.

 

·       Skidmore-RP.p58.fig92: Tiwool Chan Mat name from the Temple 18 stucco glyphs (after Schele and Mathews 1979) = The Bodega of Palenque, Chiapas, Mexico. Washington, D.C.: Dumbarton Oaks.

·       https://www.mesoweb.com/palenque/monuments/PT/single/E9.html (with reference to PAL PT E9): Robert Wald (1999) has read this glyph as ma-ta ch'o-ko / mat ch'ok / "? child/sprout". This mat portion of this glyph, together with the preceding glyph (F8), is the ch'ok or pre-accession name of K'inich K'an Joy Chitam II (formerly known as Kan-Xul II).