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

Alternative readings: NIKTE'
Translation: flower
Part of speech: Noun

Logogram spellings of nik

           .

K&L.p21.#6                                                                                                 .

NIKTE’                                                                                                      

 

A drawing of a square with a cross  Description automatically generated                                                                           

TOK.p11.r5.c3               TOK.p32.r4.c4               BMM9.p12.r4.c3              JM.p184.#4               JM.p184.#3 = K&L.p21.#6.5              

NIK                                  NIK                                   NIKTE’                                 NIKTE’                        NIKTE’

 

·     No glyphs given in K&H.

·     Concerning the distinction between NIK and JANAAB, K&H.p36.fn44: The readings offered for both of these collocations are tentative as these include glyphic elements whose phonetic values are still debated. The first may be variously read as k’a[h]k’ tzih nik?, or k’a[h]k’nal nik?, where nik is a known term for “flower”, while in the other case the logogram may be read as janaahb, which based on other contexts also refers to a type of flower although a productive modern cognate is still wanting.

·     BMM9, K&H, K&L state that NIK is an unspecified flower while NIKTE’ is a mayflower.

·     Some uncertainty about whether it is read NIK or NIKTE’.

·     Features:

o Boulder with two parallel non-touching bars at the North, South, East, West extremities.

o The bars are usually cross-hatched, pointing inwards but not reaching all the way to the centre.

o Central dot, not touching any of the bars.

o Optionally: “flames” element at the top [Sim: representing the fragrance of the flower].

·     NIK is in some senses a “mirror image” of the stylized/boulder variant of JANAAB:

o In NIK, the four bars go from the outside not quite to the centre.

o In JANAAB, the four bars go from the centre not quite to the outside.

·     Dorota Bojkowska: nik alone is flower, […?].