THOMAS] MAYAN NUMERALS 865 
suffixes. These, in the numbers exceeding 1, are, in a large number of 
as for example where the terminal letter is > or 7—additions, 
apparently indicating the plural. In other cases, where they are 
joined to the name for 1, they play a different réle; for example, 
the suffix wwa/ in the Ixil dialect signifies turn or repetition, or, per- 
haps more correctly, step in counting, a sort of reflective from a 
vaguely defined unity connotative of direction and time; thus the name 
for 1, wngvual, may be rendered ‘‘one time”; for 2, cavual, ‘two 
times,” etc. The plural sign may be taken as evidence that the name 
still holds a trace of or reference to the process of counting, and has 
not yet reached what we may term the abstract or purely simple form. 
The pé in Chontal, ¢ in Chanabal, and 7 (or ah) in Pokonchi and Poko- 
mam, are also suffixes, though possibly merely phonetic. The replac- 
ing of 7 by / (or j), or the dropping of the letter entirely, as in /ahun, 
lahuh, lahu, ete., is, of course, understood to be a mere dialectic 
variation. 
It has been stated above that the terminal } or 7}, and in some cases 

cases 
the m, are construed as suffixes denoting the plural. This conclusion 
is strongly supported by Charencey (Mélanges), but Stoll (Die Maya- 
Sprachen der Pokom-gruppe) gives a different interpretation. ** By 
agreement,” he says, “‘with the Ixil, an isolated 4, complete as 72d, 
is attached to the numerals 1-10 [not to 1]; it is undoubtedly to be 
explained as the better understood form 7), which appears in vz-7d, 
‘my head,’ of the Aguacateca, as well as in the reflexive pronoun of 
the Pokonehi, Quiche, ete.; 77-7 would therefore have meant origi- 
nally ‘three human beings.” Nevertheless this would still carry the 
idea of plurality and would properly receive a plural termination. 
According to the same authority the suffix aj in jen-a7, Pokonchi 
for 1, ‘‘ was chosen as the object, in which at any rate we may recog- 
nize the personal suffix a, so that jen-a7 very probably meant origi- 
nally ‘a man.’ This conelusion appears to me doubtful, notwith- 
standing Dr Stoll’s thorough knowledge of the Mayan languages. 
The names for the numbers 6, 7, and 8 in this list, as stated above, 
appear to be compound words, the terminal / or ¢ indicating a suflix, 
or the radical with a prefix; as yet no generally accepted explanation 
of these terms has been offered. Charencey (Mélanges, page 156), fol- 
lowing Brasseur, makes the following suggestion in regard to wac—6: 
“This corresponds to our expression ‘hors, pardela, superflu, surabun- 
dant,” in other words, over or beyond, that is, above or more than 5. 
Perez gives as the signification of the verb wac, wacah, *‘to take out 
one thing which is placed in another and united with it.” If this be 
assumed as the origin of the name, it would seem to refer to count- 
ing on the fingers, turning them in while counting the first five and 
then opening them out in counting the next five. Although the 
literal signification of the names for 6, 7, and 8 may not be 5 + 1, 
19 ETH, Pr 2 20 

