496 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1941 



twist between the palms, work a drill, bore, drill. The MoUil lias 

 "A«a?, ah, db (i. e. has, kasah, hasah) : torcer con la palma o palmas 

 de las manos y hazer tomiza, o cordel assi, y lo assi torcido" and again 

 ^^haxs: taladrar o agujerar taladrando y la cosa taladrada o agujerada 

 assi." This stem is the only word for drilling in Maya that I know 

 of, so the case is particularly convincing. The word for a drill, the 

 instrument, is hasah; we do not have it in this codex, but rather the 

 verbal inflection. The suffix -es, -s (followed by -ah) of the verbal 

 inflection is causative, similar in meaning to the suffix -hes; X-es-ah 

 means puts (put) it (grammatical object) into the condition X, or 

 else, cause (caused) it to exist by the condition or action X, makes 

 (made) it by X-ing, by doing X. The second type of causative 

 meaning is that which fits the present case. The suffix -ah denotes 

 transitive action already accomplished, in contrast with -ik, transitive 

 action not accomplished or not finished, either future or continuing 

 in the present. Thus hasesah means makes (made) it by drilling. 



Makes what by drilling? According to our scheme above, that 

 which is denoted by the next sign cluster, Bi. In the bottom section 

 of the same page the corresponding cluster B2 denotes the stone or 

 stone object being drilled. In that case "makes by drilling" of course 

 does not mean create the object wholly by drilling, but rather perform 

 that step in the manufacture of the object that requires drilling. 

 Hence in that case there is merely a subtle shade of difference between 

 hasesah and hmah "drills it." To digress a little, cluster B2 is prob- 

 ably to be read e-i-l-l: e, dots, here many instead of three, i of three 

 nipples, and a form of double-loop I doubled by scratches {lac) 

 between the loops. The word eil could mean edge-tool, i. e., weapon- 

 point, knife, etc. Such points or knives were of course predominantly 

 of stone among the Maya, and were no doubt sometimes drilled. 



Keturning to the middle-section text; here ''''hasesah Bi" means 

 makes Bi by drilling, actually in the sense of "causes" or "creates," 

 since Bi evidently denotes fire. This fits in well with the expression 

 cited by the Motul for making fire with the firedrill: hasah k"* ak'' 

 {Jt'ak'' "fire"), which uses the simpler or less inflected form hasah 

 rather than hasesah. The Motul gives "Aaa? kak (i. e., has-\^ah'\ 

 k'' ak'') : encender lumbre casando fuego frotando un palo con otro," 

 also ^''hawah kak (hasah k^ aW 'drill for fire') : artificio o recaudo con 

 que sacan fuego los indios." 



The cluster Bi is analyzed as u-to-kak, consisting of sign No. 23 

 of figure 1, w, sign No. 21, to, tu (to be read here to), and No. 9 of 

 figure 1, which if it is a doubled and enlarged ka (No. 8) might be 

 read kaka, kak, or simply ka. Here the reading kak fits exactly. 

 The initial u here would denote the preposed third-person pronominal 

 reference u. For our present purposes it is immaterial whether this 



