CMGG entry for naah      (This article is part of the Learner's Maya Glyph Guide.)
From: Lee, S. Classic Maya Glyph Guide, Part 1. Amsterdam: Self-published, 2023-2025. Contact: maya.glyphs@yahoo.com.
For sources given below as abbreviations under the glyphs or in the text, hover on the abbreviation to bring up the reference. For the full list of references and their abbreviations, see here.

Alternative readings: NAH
Translation: building, structure, house; first
Part of speech: Noun

Logogram spellings of naah

A black and white drawing of a bridge Description automatically generated                                                                                                                 

TOKhttps:/​/​www.mesoweb.com/​resources/​catalog/​Tokovinine_​Catalog.pdf Beginner's Visual Catalog of Maya Hieroglyphs (Tokovinine; 2017).p7.r1.c4                   BMM9BMM9.pdf 9th Bratislava Maya Meeting (Beliaev, Safronov; 2019).p10.r6.c2                                               JMDictionary of Maya Hieroglyphs (Montgomery; 2002).p177.#1             JMDictionary of Maya Hieroglyphs (Montgomery; 2002).p177.#2               JMDictionary of Maya Hieroglyphs (Montgomery; 2002).p177.#3                  JMDictionary of Maya Hieroglyphs (Montgomery; 2002).p178.#1

NAAH                                NAH                                                                     NAH                          NAH                           NAH                               NAH

 

A drawing of a faucet and a tap Description automatically generated                               

K&LKettunenLacadena.pdf Methods in Maya Hieroglyphic Studies (Harri Kettunen & Alfonso Lacadena; 2018).p29.#4                                                                                                                          MCReading the Maya Glyphs (Coe, van Stone; 2001).p165.r1.c2.1&2&3

NAH                                                                                                                                      NAAH / na / NOJ?

 

                                                                                         

MHD.1G2a.1&2          MHD.1G2b.1&2&3               0004vb                    0004vl               0004vr            0004vt

NAAH                            NAAH                                      NAAH                      NAAH, na          NAAH, na        NAAH, na         

 

                            

PY5.1&2&3                                                                      0004vs                   0004vs

NAAH                                                                                NAAH                     NAAH

 

0004vc

NAAH

 

·    No glyphs given in K&Hhttps:/​/​www.mesoweb.com/​resources/​handbook/​IMH2020.pdf Introduction to Maya Hieroglyphs (Kettunen & Helmke; 17th revised edition, 2020).

·    AT-YT2021-lecture17Tokovinine Lecture 17. Classic Maya cities in their own words, University of Alabama, 2021-2022. https:/​/​www.youtube.com/​watch?v=b2pYtVwVWNITokovinine Lecture 17. Classic Maya cities in their own words, University of Alabama, 2021-2022. https:/​/​www.youtube.com/​watch?v=b2pYtVwVWNI.t0:23:05-23:55: And very much like [in] present-day Mayan languages, the term “house” naah actually refers to something more than a single building. Like archaeologists... we usually call it [a] “patio-group” – so it’s a group of houses sharing a courtyard. In [the] present-day Ch’orti’-speaking area, a house will also include the courtyard in front it – so it would actually be the “edge of the house”: ti’ naah for the “mouth of the house”. […] So the palace at Sufricaya (where I work) is called “Three Platform House”, basically there are three platforms around the courtyard. The palace at Palenque – initially at least – was called the “Five Platform House” – presumably the enclosed space with some central buildings in the middle.

·    Variants (3):

o A. Reduced: “axe-blade”.

§ MHD distinguishes between MHD.1G2a and MHD.1G2b, though the difference is not clear to me.

§ The difference isn’t a “left-pointing blade” vs. a “right-pointing blade” (which is the case for Bonn’s 0004vl vs. 0004vr.

o B. Head: “axe-blade” + human-head:

§ The head can be below or to the right of the “axe-blade”.

o C. Head-only: Just the human-head, without the “axe-blade”.

·    MHD statistics (2024-05-17) – the reduced variant is much more common than the head variant. The head-only variant is probably very rare – MHD doesn’t even recognize such a variant, it’s only given by Bonn:

o Reduced (“axe-blade”): 1G2a (290 hits) + 1G2b (230 hits) = 520 hits.

o Head (“axe-blade” + human-head): PY5 = 28 hits.

o Head-only: no statistics available, as MHD doesn’t have a codepoint for it.

o MHD.1G2s is the “axe-blade” as syllabogram na. That doesn’t have that much to do with the “axe-blade” as logogram NAAH, but the statistics are vaguely of peripheral interest here: 1G2s = 35 hits, so much less common than the logogram reading.