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

Alternative readings: USIJ UCH'AB / USIJ UCHIT CH'AB / UCH'AB AK'AB
Translation: child of father or mother
Part of speech: Noun

Spellings of uchit ch'ab

                                                                   

Kettunen&Helmke-RoB-MotT2020.p34.fig65

c                                                 d                                                     e                                              

MQL Stela 6 B1b                     TIK Temple 1 Lintel 1/3 F4        TIK Temple 4 Lintel 1/3 G8

<u.<CHIT:ti>>:CH’AB               <u:CHIT:ti>.CH’AB                      <u:CHIT:ti>.CH’AB                 

 

                                                                                    

Kettunen&Helmke-RoB-MotT2020.p34.fig65

h                                                                                                  i                                                                       m                                                

YAX Stela 11 “H3-G4”                                                             YAX Lintel 10 D6b                                        TRT Stela (Monument) 6 J16-I17

<u:BAAH>.<u:CHIT:ki/ta> CH’AB.<ch’a?:ho?{m}>              <u:BAAH:ji>.<u:<[CHIT]CH’AB>>               u.<BAAH:hi> u.<CHIT:CH’AB>

USE LATER DRAWING

 

                                                                                                 

Kettunen&Helmke-RoB-MotT2020.p34.fig65

a                                                       b                                                    j                                                                l                                                             

CPN Stela P                                     Kuna-Lacanja Lintel 1                CPN Altar U                                            PAL TS C11-D11

u:<BAAH:ji.{u}CH’AB:k’i?>            u.<ya?:CH’AB[*AK’AB?]:li>      u.<ba:hi> u.CH’AB                                 u.<BAAH[ji?]:hi> u.CH’AB                            

USE LATER DRAWING

 

                   A black and white drawing of a face  Description automatically generated                                                                           

Kettunen&Helmke-RoB-MotT2020.p34.fig65

f                                                        g                                              k                                                                        n                                                          

YAX Stela 7 pD8                             YAX Stela 10                          PAL TC Tablet E3                                            YAX Stela 7 pC6

<u:si:ji>.<u[CHIT?]:CH’AB>          <u:si:ji>.<la?:CH’AB>           <u:BAAH>.<u:CH’AB[AK’AB]:li>                   <u:BAAH:hi>.<u:CH’AB[AK’AB?/CHIT?]>

 

                  A black and white image of a totem  Description automatically generated                      

Kettunen&Helmke-RoB-MotT2020.p34.fig65                                      = Coll-1

o-1                                                                       o-2                                                                                               o-3

Stokes Panel                                                      MQL Stela 11 A6b                                                                     ITB Stela 17

u.<si:ji> u.<ch’a:ba>                                         u.<si:ji> u.<chi:ta?/ti?>.<CH’AB:ba>                                      u.<si:hi> <u:CHIT>.<ch’a:ba>

 

                            

Coll-1                                       Graham

PUS Stela E Fp8                      TRT Monument 6

u.<CHIT:ti:CH’AB>                  u.<CHIT:CH’AB>                 

 

·     The history of decipherment:

o Stuart-TPM.p123 (2006) gives u-B’AAH u-CH’AB’(AK’AB’)-li è u-b’aah u-ch’ab’-ak’ab’il = "His person is the creation, the darkness of".

o EB (2009) lists ch’ab-related compounds under “child (of parent)”, but not the specific ones with ak’ab.

o Kettunen&Helmke-RoB-MotT2020.p34.fig65 lists at least two (fig65k = PAL TC E3 and fig65n = YAX Stela 7 pC6), giving explicitly the meaning “child of”.

·     Kettunen&Helmke-RoB-MotT2020.p34.fig65 gives many variants of this:

o uchit uch’ab – the most basic and straightforward form.

o ubaah uchit uch’ab – to what extent is this simply “(This is the) image of the child of”? the ubaah doesn’t belong with the “child”, it’s just “the image of” (“the child’).

o usih uch’ab / usij uch’ab – is the first word the possessive of sih / sij “birth” / “gift”?

o usij uchit ch’ab.

o uch’ab ak’ab.

·     Two of the CH’ABs seem to have an infixed AK’AB (k, n. and perhaps b).

·     Two of them have the hand variant of ji (a, g) and one has the mammal head variant of ji (f).

·     Is this an example of “diphrastic kenning”, where a single concept is expressed as a phrase containing two either parallel or opposing concepts, as a metaphor or in poetic usage?

·     Kettunen&Helmke-RoB-MotT2020.p34.fig65 explains that it be found preceding the name of a male or female parent:

o Male parent: a, b, c, d, e, f, g, h, i.

o Female parent: j, k, l, m, n.

o Not specified o-1, o-2, o-3.

·     Comments:

o b: This is possibly not chit ch’ab, but perhaps uch’ab yak’ab.

o g: The la is possibly part of ch’abil.

o i: This is a very special case. There is a rat-head glyph, but it clearly has an infixed AK’AB not K’AN. Therefore, it cannot be part of the ubaah part of the expression. Furthermore, there is a ji underneath rather than a hi on top (though that could be a result of the Late Classic merger). Sergei Vepretskii: this [= the “rat head” glyph] is in fact a very rare form of si, making this usij uchit (u)ch’ab = the child of. This is cited in Kettunen&Helmke-RoB-MotT2020.p34.fig65i.

o n: the “ni” as the very last element (bottom right) is perhaps just part of the CH’AB, not to be pronounced, same as I; the infix is more likely to be CHIT than AK’AB.

o o-3: ITB (the -B is needed in the 3-character code of the toponym/polity because there are 2 Itzimte’s – Itzimte’-Bolonchen and Itzimte’-Sacluk).

o Do not confuse this with usiij “vulture” (with a long final vowel -ii-) – this one is related to sih / sij = “birth” / “gift” (with a short final vowel -i-).

·     In the fixed combination chit ch’ab, when written as a CHIT, it is almost invariably the abstract variant (resembling lo) which is used.

 

Coll-2 has many later versions.