44 



SCIENCE. 



[Vol. XX. No. 494 



KEY TO THE MAYA HIEROGLYPHS. 



BY CYRUS THOMAS, PH.D. 



I GIVE here in as limited space as possible a list of the 

 Maya letter 'glyphs so far as I have determined them, to- 

 gether with the corresponding phonetic equivalents; and 

 some examples of my attempts at deciphering the written 

 characters of the Codices. 



It is necessary to explain that the letter-equivalent given 

 to each is to be understood as only the chief phonetic ele- 

 ment of the character represented, for, in most cases, more 

 than this chief or prominent element is included in the one 

 symbol. The consonant sounds are those chiefly represented, 

 but the character, as a rule, combines therewith a vowel and 

 sometimes even a subordinate consonant sound. Hence it 

 happens that the same consonant sound is represented by 

 several different characters depending upon the subordinate 

 phonetic elements combined with it. A. change, however, in 

 the character does not necessarily follow from a change 

 in the order of the phonetic elements it represents; thus, 

 what denotes ci as a prefix may stand for ic or c at the end. 



The examples given of the added vowel and subordinate 



k appears to be a combination of Nos. 3 and 5. The latter 

 sometimes contains the dotted portion seen in 6. No. 6 is 

 frequently found where it must be interpreted che, "wood," 

 yet occurs without the dot-surrounded portion where it has 

 the same signification. Other variants are found in the 

 Dresden Codex. 



7. K\ — Found as ke and ek, also as Ce. 



8. Ch\ — Sometimes chi, as in the symbol for CMkin, 

 "west;" 'Cft' as final. Landa's first x appears to be an 

 attempt to give this character which is the partially closed 

 hand. 



9. KTJ\ — Landa's symbol. This does not appear to be 

 subject to any variations that affect its phonetic value. 



10. X'. — Cross-hatching usually indicates x (sh) as the 

 leading phonetic element; however, it is sometimes rendered 

 by ch\ as is evident from its appearance in the symbol for the 

 day Chicchan if we consider it phonetic. However, the day 

 symbols cannot always be relied upon in this respect, as will 

 be seen by what follows. 



11. X\ — Landa's second x is substantially the same as 

 this character. But he has taken two characters for one, as 

 in this the a; is represented by the dotted lines alone; the 



eg®© 



consonant elements, are intended only as asserting that such 

 combinations have been discovered ; there may be, and proba- 

 bly are, others. As it would require too much space and 

 too many illustrations to give full explanations of the steps 

 by which I have reached the conclusions given, I must take 

 for granted that those interested in the subject will be able 

 to test these from what is presented. 



Letter Symbols (Fig. i). 



1 (a, b). B\ — I find no marks or rule by which to deter- 

 mine from the symbol alone the combined phonetic elements. 

 This is Landa's character for h with a dot added. 



3. Ca. — As a prefix, sometimes fco in the Cortesian Codex ; 

 c hard or k as final. Landa's character. 



3. C\ — This is generally found in place of an eye where 

 it denotes dm, cin, or ci. 



4. C\ — Ci as a prefix, ic, ich, or c as a suffix or final. 



■ — The characters 5 and 6 are quite variable 

 6. Gxi 



and often diflficult to determine because the complete form 



intended is not always given. In some instances the little 



dot-surrounded character at the left of 6 is solid, then a 



slightly different rendering appears to be demanded. Landa's 



little loop at the forehead, or^rather the little parallelogram, 

 in it is a; the face character n. The whole character ap- 

 pears to be properly rendered by xan, "slowly, leisurely, 

 gently." The chief variation in the combination is found 

 in the loop at the forehead, which may be a vowel or con- 

 sonant. This form of x is seldom found except in combina- 

 tion with n. 



12 (a, b, c). £■ and JJe. — The variations are shown in 12b 

 and 12c. 



13 (a, b, c). L\ — This is Landa's first I. The variations 

 are shown in 13b and 13c. Found in combination with 

 different vowels, as le, ol, etc. 



14. L\ — If Landa's second I be turned round it will be 

 found to be a rude imitation of this character, which is the 

 symbol for the day Ahau. Li, in the symbol for Likin, 

 East; follows ku, etc. 



15. iW',-ilfe.— Symbol for the day Men. 



16 (a, b). M'. — Varies in having the little loops at the 

 top, sometimes solid, as in 16b. The dot-surrounded portion 

 of 16b is used alone in one series of the Cortesian Codex 

 for this letter followed by e. The combinations have not 

 been traced. 



17. M\ — This appears to be another form of m, or m 



