CMGG entry for tz'eh k'ab      (This article is part of the Learner's Maya Glyph Guide.)

Translation: left hand (of the ruler)
Part of speech: Noun

Spellings of tz'eh k'ab

Coll-2 = AT-YT2021-lecture13.t0:26:44 = AT-YT2021-lecture24.t0:09:14

CLK Structure XX HB H

u.<TZ’EH:K’AB>

 

                                                                                                          

StuartEtAl-TNoLCS.p2.fig1.D                                                           = Stuart-GfRaL.p3.fig6a                               BeliaevEtAl-LTJM.p196.figIII.4                  

CRN Panel D / Element 12 D2-D3                                                   CRN Panel D / Element 12 D3                    CRN Panel 1 P5                                           

i.<tz’i{n}:WINIK> <SAK?:WAY?>.si u.<TZ’EH:K’AB>.K’INICH       u.<TZ’EH:K’AB>.K’INICH                              u.<TZ’EH:K’AB>.K’INICH

 

                                                                                                                                                                                                

Stuart-GfRaL.p1.fig1.#2 = AT-YT2021-lecture13.t0:26:44 = Coll-1                                          Stuart-GfRaL.p4.fig7.#3 = AT-YT2021-lecture13.t0:26:44

TIK Marcador C4                                                                                                                               TIK Temple 4 Lintel 3 E4                                                                                          

TZ’EH:K’AB                                                                                                                                          <TZ’EH:K’AB>.<AJAW:wa>

 

·    Proposed decipherment in Stuart-GfRaL (2002):

o Stuart-GfRaLp3.para2.l-3 entertains the possibility that tz’e is derived from TZ’EH.

o If read as tz’e, then all the examples here have an underspelled final-h, i.e. tz’e{h}-K’AB.

·    The only references are Stuart-GfRaL (2002),  AT-YT2021-lecture13, and AT-YT2021-lecture24 (2021) – not in K&H (2020), K&L (2018), TOK (2017), BMM9 (2019), 25EMC (2020), EB (2009), JM (2002). Except for JM, it is strange that this hasn’t been taken up as a logogram in any of the other works, for a period of almost 20 years since the proposal – it has been accepted as a syllabogram by only K&H and TOK.

·    In some ways, it doesn’t matter that much whether this glyph is seen as a TZ’EH or a tz’e. In the former case, the sound and meaning are provided by the glyph, and in the latter case, just the sound tz’e, with the -h being viewed as underspelled. The tz’e + underspelled -h then produce tz’eh, meaning “left”. So both interpretations produce the same sound and word. The same issue arises when writing the word baah = “image” using the gopher-head glyph: is it BAAH (used as a rebus) or ba (with underspelled -h)? Both analyses still lead to reading baah = “image” (in the appropriate context). Even if hi is present after the gopher-head glyph, the same ambiguity remains: the hi could be seen as simply supplying an “unnecessary” end phonetic complement to BAAH, or as supplying the -h after ba.

·    Found only in combination with K’AB, exclusively in connection with the title of two major positions in a Maya ruler’s court: Noh K’ab and Tz’eh K’ab – the Right Hand and Left Hand (of the Ruler). See also Noh K’ab.

·    There are 10 hits on MHD for “blcodes contains ZZE MZ1” (= tz’e K’AB):

o MHD seems to refer to the one here called CRN Panel D / Element 12 as Hieroglyphic Stairway A.

·    Mentioned in two different Tokovinine lectures:

o AT-YT2021-lecture13.t0:27:11-27:24: If you're a "Left Hand", you're presumably in [charge of] the household of the king, if you're a "Right Hand", you're in charge of the external relations. And sometimes people are called "Left Hand, Right Hand", assuming, I guess, a kind of double role.

o AT-YT2021-lecture24.t0:09:14: emphasizing the existence of (at least) three levels in the administration – Tz’eh K’ab è serving a Yajaw è serving a Kaloomte’ (as recorded on CLK Structure XX HB H).