CMGG entry for nut'il      (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.

Translation: twilight, dusk
Part of speech: Noun

Logogram spellings of nut'il: None known.

Syllabogram spellings of nut'il

                                                                      

Davletshin&Bíró-APSfThttps:/​/​www.mesoweb.com/​pari/​publications/​journal/​1501/​Davletshin-Biro.pdf A Possible Syllable for t’i in Maya Writing (Davletshin, Bíró; 2014).p4.fig2a                              Davletshin&Bíró-APSfThttps:/​/​www.mesoweb.com/​pari/​publications/​journal/​1501/​Davletshin-Biro.pdf A Possible Syllable for t’i in Maya Writing (Davletshin, Bíró; 2014).p4.fig2b

Pendants 8a and 8b, Comalcalco Urn 26               Stingray Spine 4, Comalcalco Urn 26

ti.<nu:t’i:li>                                                                  nu:<t’i:li>                

 

                                           

Davletshin&Bíró-APSfThttps:/​/​www.mesoweb.com/​pari/​publications/​journal/​1501/​Davletshin-Biro.pdf A Possible Syllable for t’i in Maya Writing (Davletshin, Bíró; 2014).p4.fig2c                     Davletshin&Bíró-APSfThttps:/​/​www.mesoweb.com/​pari/​publications/​journal/​1501/​Davletshin-Biro.pdf A Possible Syllable for t’i in Maya Writing (Davletshin, Bíró; 2014).p4.fig2d

K1815                                                                  K2208   

nu:<t’i:li>                                                            nu:<t’i:li>                 

 

·    Davletshin&Bíró-APSfThttps:/​/​www.mesoweb.com/​pari/​publications/​journal/​1501/​Davletshin-Biro.pdf A Possible Syllable for t’i in Maya Writing (Davletshin, Bíró; 2014) is the paper which first proposed the reading of a hitherto undeciphered glyph “split akbal” as t’i. In connection with that, it also proposed a reading for a word written nu-t’i-li è nut’il = “twilight”.

·    Davletshin&Bíró-APSfThttps:/​/​www.mesoweb.com/​pari/​publications/​journal/​1501/​Davletshin-Biro.pdf A Possible Syllable for t’i in Maya Writing (Davletshin, Bíró; 2014).p7.pdf7-p9.pdf9: The examples support the reconstruction of a proto-Cholan root *nut’- “to join, close.” Further, it is reasonable to suppose that a derived noun of the form nut’il would have meant “joining, closing.” // The putative derived noun nut’il “joining, closing” bears a semantic resemblance to the previously discussed expression pas’aj “sunrise (lit. opening, uncovering).” Just as pas’aj indicates the beginning of the day, referring to the climbing of the sun from the horizon or its ‘detaching’ from the horizon, nut’il may indicate the end of the day (dusk, sunset) when the sun is ‘closing the horizon’ or ‘joining to it’ and beginning its journey to the underworld. Apparently, in addition to recording that some rituals took place at dawn (pas’aj) and at night (ti-ihk’k’in), the Classic Maya also noted that at least some events had taken place at dusk. In the Comalcalco inscriptions found in Aj Pakal Tahn’s funerary urn, two rituals are thus said to have taken place at sunset (ti-nut’il), and three others at sunrise (ti-pas’aj) (see Zender 2004:246-263 for details). Interestingly enough, and perhaps not accidentally, both of the Comalcalco texts referring to possible sunset events do so in the context of a ritual where a priest (yajawk’ahk’) represents and possibly impersonates a ‘bat-being’ (suutz’il). // […] Intriguing as they are, however, the Comalcalco texts remain the only known Mayan inscriptions where sunset rituals are mentioned, while rituals taking place at sunrise are attested throughout the Maya Lowlands. Interestingly, at least one mythological event is explicitly mentioned as taking place at sunset. Often called the ‘throwing of Baby Jaguar’ (see, for example, Robicsek and Hales 1988), these scenes probably represent the discovery of maize by the Storm God, who seems to use the Baby Jaguar to crack open the mountain where the first maize seeds were hoarded (Figure 7). [Sim: Figure 7 shows K2208 © Justin Kerr. The instance of nut’il on K2208 is also included in the examples above.]