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

Alternative readings: PEP TUUN / PETUUN
Translation: La Mar
Part of speech: Noun

Spellings of pepe' tuun

A black and white drawing of a group of objects  Description automatically generated                                                                                                                              

Safronov                                                                  Safronov                                                                    Houston-PaP.p3.fig2a

Denver-Brussels Panel A6                                    Denver-Brussels Panel C1                                      PNG Panel 4 H1

<<NIK>:MO’>.<{2}pe{‘}:TUUN:AJAW>                <<NIK>:MO’>.<{2}pe{‘}:TUUN:AJAW>                  <pe:e>.<tuun:ni>

 

A drawing of a mayan art  Description automatically generated                    A black and white drawing of a tiger  Description automatically generated           

Martin-AMP.p396.r3.c4 = Pitts-BHPN.p163 = Teufel-PhD.p549

PNG Throne 1 E1                                               

<2pe{‘}>.<TUUN:ni:AJAW>.<wa>

 

·     The presence of the doubler in PNG Throne 1 E1 shows that there is an underspelled one in all other instances written with a single pe and referring to La Mar.

·     There appears to be an additional element above the pe in PNG Throne 1 E1. This is simply the ear of the rabbit, which (in other contexts) usually droops downwards on the right of the head.

·     Reading – there are three readings commonly seen:

o Petuun (very common): this is from the time that the rabbit head was first deciphered as pe.

o Peptuun:  this is from after the time that the “doubler” was noticed (e.g. PNG Throne 1 E1). Houston-PaP.p3: For his part, David Stuart wonders whether some of the rabbit heads deploy a “doubler,” perhaps to write pe-pe (personal communication, 2014; see Piedras Negras, Stela 16, D5). Other examples may elucidate the matter.

o Pepe’tuun (e.g. Martin-AMP.p396.r3.c4): This is due to the e found after pe (e.g. PNG Panel 4 H1), though the example given by Martin-AMP doesn’t have this e.

I adopt the last of the three readings.

·     Meaning – Houston-PaP.p3: The meaning of pe’ remains elusive, but the word could highlight a feature of the landscape. Chontal pe’, “crest,” is suggestive in this respect (Keller and Luciano 1997:191), and, in fact, Charles Golden informs me that La Mar lies at the base of a sierra—the “crest”?– separating the city from the Santo Domingo Valley to the west (personal communication, 2014).