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

Alternative readings: PUHK?
Translation: scatter? fire
Part of speech: Verb

Logogram spellings of puuk?

A black and white drawing of a hand holding a spiral object  Description automatically generated                               A black and white drawing of a lion and a person  Description automatically generated                                                                                 A black and white drawing of a mayan ornament  Description automatically generated

TOK.p20.r1.c4                            Grube                           =  Tuszyńska scan p10.#2.2                         Tuszyńska scan p10.#2.1

                                                      YHA Stela 32 Bp2                                                                                 YAX Stela 1 U9-U10

PUUK                                            <PUHK>.?.<AJAN>     puuk                                                                 PUUK:ya u.K’AHK’ LEM?.AJAN

 

A drawing of a hand  Description automatically generated                               A black and white drawing of a hand  Description automatically generated                               

BMM9.p16.r3.c1                       25EMC.pdfp45.#8                     MHD.MRD.1&2

                                                      YHA Stela 32 Bp2                      

PUK                                               PUK                                             puk

 

·     It’s not completely clear to me what the glyph-block reference for YHA Stela 32 should be – the value Bp2 is from MHD.

o It’s not completely clear to me whether BMM9.p16.r3.c1 belongs with the others.

o MHD.MRD.2 also has a hand grasping a “syllabogram mo”, but the thumb and fingers point up instead of down.

·     I have placed it here on the basis of phonetic and visual similarity.

·     In the Tuszyńska scan, it is probable that the “ya” below the hand is a “mistake” by the artist, and that there are actual (unpronounced) “flames” instead.

·     TOK.p20.r1.c4 seems to view the two scrolls at the bottom to be an integral part of the glyph, not separately pronounced. However, all the MHD transcriptions seem to read the two scrolls (where present) as K’AHK’ (i.e. as a separate glyph, not just part of the PUUK logogram).

·     EB.p152.pdfp157.#9: puk- iv. “to scatter (fire)”.

·     The AJAN in the Grube and Gloria examples appear to have a NAL above – this is perhaps silent, and only present to reinforce the fact that AJAN is a Maize God.

·     MHD query “blcodes contains MRD” gives 20 hits, rendered as puhk?, over many sites. Unfortunately, most of the glyphs are extremely eroded and not that suitable for inclusion as examples. They break up into the following sub-groups, with the hand holding different elements:

o A “mo” (circle formed of tiny dots with a circle in the centre) – 4 hits:

§ BKPKOKV

§ ITSSt07

§ NMPSt21?

§ POLSt04

o Drops – 1 hit:

§ SCUSt09

o “BEN” – 2 hits:

§ YAXSt01

§ YAXSt11

o K’AHK’ (with 0 drops, 1 drop, some drops) – 6 hits:

§ COLDPan (Denver Panel)

§ CROAlt06

§ NMPSt15

§ PUSStH

§ PUSStO

§ YXHSt32

o Reverse hand – 2 hits:

§ UXBSt15

§ XNHSt2

o Other (no image, eroded, something else) – 5 hits:

§ ITSSt02

§ PUSStM

§ PUSStU

§ RAZSt03

§ SCUSt10

In almost all 20 cases, there is a k’ahk’ or uk’ahk’ read immediately after (either in the following glyph of the same glyph-block or in the next glyph-block). There are only perhaps 1 or 2 where this isn’t the case (one of which is completely eroded anyway). This means that this glyph occurs (almost) exclusively in the context of a ritual for scattering fire.