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

Translation: cushion throne
Part of speech: Noun

Logogram spellings of tz'am

                        

K&L.p30.pdfp30.#4.2&3                    TOK.p12.r3.c2                    [25EMC.pdfp48.#5.1&2 = K&L.p30.pdfp30.#4.2&3]

TZ’AM                                                    TZ’AM

 

                                                                

K&L.p30.psdp30.#4.1                         TOK.p12.r3.c1          

TZ’AM           TZ’AM                             TZ’AM                       

 

·     No glyphs given in K&H, BMM9.

·     Variants (2):

o Full - boulder outline divided by a horizontal line with bumps:

§ Top: jaguar pelt.

§ Bottom: “cushion” (= element resembling syllabogram po).

o Reduced – boulder line: just the “cushion”.

·     S&Z makes a distinction between a cushion throne (S&Z.p95) and a bone throne (S&Z.p97):

o In the cushion throne, the element in the middle of the bottom half represents the depression in the middle of the cushion, which the top half represents the jaguar skin covering the throne. Only the cushion throne is given the reading TZ’AM.

o In the bone throne, the hashed areas might represent the marrow of the two bones, with the circular arcs at the end the “knobs” of the bones (middle arcs are shared between the two bones), and the two vertical bands the cloth that binds the two bones together.

·     Tokovinine lists both the cushion throne (TOK.p12.r3.c2) and the bone throne (TOK.p18.r3.c1) but doesn’t assign the pronunciation TZ’AM to the bone throne. JM is the only source to assign TZ’AM to the bone throne, and this is probably now an outdated view.