A Historical Grammar of the Maya Language of Yucatan (1557-2000)
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(ah) çabim=be
‘weasel’
‘road’
‘lookout, sentinel, spy’
ɔib
kaba
ɔib=kaba
‘writing’
‘name’
‘signature’
hool
na hol=na
‘head, hair, top’
‘house’
‘ridgepole of thatched house from the outside’
icham
beel icham=beel
‘husband’
‘road, way’
‘marital life [with a husband]’
naa
cab naa=cab
‘mother’
‘bee’
‘queen bee’
pec
chac pec=chac
‘sound of moving bell or drum’ ‘rain god’
‘thunder’
tooz
haa tooz=haa
‘powder [soot, dust, grain dust]’ ‘rain, water’
‘drizzle’
Such compounds are also common in the Hocaba dictionary of Modern Yucatec:
(130) First Noun
Second Noun
Compound
ʔáak’ab’
ȼ’unúʔun
ʔáak’ab’=ȼ’unúʔun
‘night’
‘hummingbird’
‘moth’
b’ùuȼ’
ʔéek’
š b’uȼ’=ʔéek’
‘smoke’
‘star’
‘comet’
228 NOUNS
ȼíimin
k’áak’
ȼíimin=k’áak’
‘horse’
‘flame, fire’
‘train’
ʔìis
tuk’
š ʔìis=tuk’
‘sweet potato’
‘Acrocomia mexicana
‘palm fruit’
Karw. ex Wart.’
mayak tùun
mayak=tùun
‘table’
‘stone’
‘stone table used for slaughtering pigs’
mùuk’
yàah
muk’=yah
‘strength’
‘pain’
‘suffering’
naʔ
kéeh
š naʔ=kéeh
‘mother’
‘deer’
‘doe’
šìib’
pàal
šíʔi=pal
‘male, man’
‘infant, child, minor’
‘boy’
šùuš
k’áak’
šuš=k’áak’
‘wasp’
‘flame, fire’
‘pox’
The relational noun, et (phonetic [ʔéet]), also served as the first element in nominal compounds in Colo-
nial Yucatec, where it had the same function as the prefix, “co-,” in English:
(131) Nominal
Root
Gloss
Compound
Gloss
baxal
toy, game
et=ah-baxalil
companion in games or pleasure
cħup
woman, female
et=cħuplalil
female companion (of a woman)
kik blood
et=kikelil consanguine
uinic
man, woman
et=uinicil
fellow being, neighbor
xib
male, man
et=xibal
concubine, competitor
Two of these compounds have cognates in Modern Yucatec:
(132) Colonial
Modern
Yucatec
Gloss
Yucatec
Gloss
et=cħuplil
female companion
ʔéet=š-č’úupil
female companion
(of a woman)
et=xibal
concubine,
ʔéet=šìib’il
companion, friend
competitor
3.2. ADJECTIVE-PLUS-NOUN COMPOUNDS. Many nominal compounds in Colonial Yucatec contained an
adjective followed by a common noun:
NOUNS
229
(133) Adjective
Noun
Compound
çac be
çac=be
‘white’
‘road’
‘highway’
çac taau çac=tau
‘white’
‘lead’
‘tin’
çaç cab
çaç=cab
‘clear’
‘land, world; town, region’
‘dawn’
tzolan cuxtal
tzolan=cuxtal
‘in order’
‘life’
‘way of life’
chac bac
chac=bac
great, very, much’
‘bone’
‘thigh, long bone’
kan heel
kan=heel
‘yellow’
‘egg’
‘egg yolk’
kux co
kux=co
‘painful’
‘tooth’
‘toothache’
mul tumut mul=tumut
‘together, communal’
‘plan, advice’
‘joint agreement, decision’
pah al
pah=al
‘imagined, presumed’
‘woman’s son or daughter’
‘fictive son or daughter’
toh olal
toh=olal
‘straight, direct’
‘will, desire’
‘health’
Similar compounds are documented in the Hocaba dictionary of Modern Yucatec:
(134) Adjective
Noun
Compound
b’ùuy
b’ak’
b’uy=b’ak’
‘dry, hard’
‘meat’
‘scar’
čan
pàal
čàam=b’al
‘little’
‘infant, child, minor’
‘baby, child’
š čukul
t’àan
š čukul=t’àan
‘rapid’
‘speech, word’
‘rapid speech’
č’uhuk
wìiš
č’uhuk=wìiš
‘sweet’
‘urine’
‘diabetes’
230 NOUNS
mahàan yùum
mahan=yùum
‘borrowed’
‘father’
‘stepfather’
noh
b’eh
noh=b’eh
‘principal’
‘road, way’
‘main road, highway, avenue’
p’èeš
wíinik
p’eš=wíinik
‘small’
‘man’
‘midget, dwarf’
sak
túuš
sak=tuš
‘white; false’
‘dimple’
‘dent corn’
sáas tùun
sáas=tùun
‘clear’
‘stone’
‘crystal ball’
tòoh
ʔóolal
tòoh=ʔóolal
‘straight, direct’
‘will, desire’
‘health’
yáaš
k’ìin
yáaš=k’ìin
‘first, prior’
‘day, season’
‘spring [March, April, May]’
4. NOMINAL PHRASES
Nominal p
hrases composed of two nouns can be distinguished from nominal compounds based on the
same nouns in terms of whether the second noun is inflected for possession with a clitic pronoun. For
example, the Calepino de Motul contains examples of a nominal compound and a phrase based on the
nouns, moc ‘knot’ and bac ‘bone,’ which together mean ‘joint’:
(135a) v moc=bacil in kab y etel voc
‘the joints of my hands and my feet’ (Ciudad Real 1600?: fol. 306v)
(135b) v moc in bacel
‘my joints [literally, the knot of my bone]’ (Ciudad Real 1600?: fol. 306v)
In (135a), the nouns in the compound (moc=bac) are possessed as a unit, with the possessive clitic particle,
v, and the nominal suffix, -il, referring to the compound as a whole, whereas in (135b), each noun has a
clitic pronoun, v moc and in bacel, the suffix in bac-el serving as the one appropriate for bac.
Another minimal pair, contrasting the constituents of a compound with those of a phrase, is based on
the nouns, chun ‘base, origin’ and tħan ‘word, language, speech,’ which together mean ‘leader, elder, chief,
prelate’:
(136a) payal=tetex v chun=tħanob
‘invite the elders!’ (Ciudad Real 1600?: fol. 360v)
(136b) he cuch=teelbil v cahe v nah v tzicib v chun v tħan
‘as for the subject town here, it should obey its chief’ (Ciudad Real 1600?: fol. 87v)
NOUNS 231
(136c) v chun ca tħan Juan
‘John is our leader’ (Ciudad Real 1600?: fol. 149r)
In (136a), the nouns in the compound (chun=tħan) are possessed as a unit, with the possessive clitic pro-
noun, v, and the plural suffix, -ob, referring to the compound as a whole. In contrast, in (136b–c), each noun
in the phrase has a clitic pronoun: v chun and v tħan or ca tħan.
For the same reason, reflexive and reciprocal constructions, like v bal v ba ‘his possessions’ and v ba tan
ba ‘each other,’ are also nominal phrases (see 1.2.3. above).
However, only the first noun in some double-noun phrases is inflected for possession with a clitic
pronoun:
(137a) nuppan v mac v cuchil çabac
‘the inkwell is covered’ (Ciudad Real 1600?: fol. 339v)
(137b) y otoch çinic
‘the anthill [literally, the home of ants]’ (Ciudad Real 1600?: fol. 352r)
(137c) y otoch tzimin
‘the stable [literally, the home of horses]’ (Ciudad Real 1600?: fol. 352r)
The second noun is semantically the possessor in these cases, and for this reason the groups of nouns can
be classified as phrases.
Comparable examples appear in the Hocaba dictionary of Modern Yucatec. First of all, the nominal
phrase, k’ìin k’àab’aʔ ‘birthday,’ composed of k’ìin ‘day’ and k’àaab’aʔ ‘name,’ can be compared with the nom-
inal compound, k’ìin=k’uh ‘principal day of festival,’ composed of k’ìin ‘day’ and k’uh ‘God, saint’:
(138a) u k’ìin in k’àab’aʔ
‘my birthday [literally, the day of my name]’ (V. Bricker et al. 1998;153)
(138b) u k’ìin=k’uhil
‘the holy day’ (V. Bricker et al. 1998:153)
Other examples of nominal phrases in Modern Yucatec include:
(139a) máʔ k’oháʔanečiʔ čéen u ȼ’iʔ aw óol
‘you’re not sick; it’s only your imagination’ (V. Bricker et al. 1998:50)
(139b) u b’áʔal u b’ah
‘his property’ (V. Bricker et al. 1998:26)
(139c) t in manah hun p’éel u lèekil wàah
‘I bought one tortilla gourd’ (V. Bricker et al. 1998:167)
It is not clear whether Colonial Yucatec also had adjective-plus-noun phrases because of the difficulty
of distinguishing them from similarly structured compounds. The Hocaba dictionary contains only one
possible example of such a nominal phrase, čowak ʔíič’ak ‘thief,’ in the following sentence:
232 NOUNS
(140) kaláant a b’ah tíʔ šíipaloʔ čowak uy íič’ak
‘look out for that boy! he’s a thief [literally, long are his fingernails]!’ (V. Bricker et al. 1998:11)
5. SUMMARY OF CHANGES IN NOUNS THROUGH TIME
Contact with Spanish culture has resulted in a significant loss of Maya kin terms, undoubtedly because of
the replacement of the original double-descent system by the bilateral descent system of the Spanish con-
querors. Only for relatives in Ego’s generation is the original set of kin terms still intact.
The noun classifiers, ah and ix, that also functioned as markers of male (ah) and female (ix) gender
in Colonial Yucatec, have been reduced to h and š, respectively in Modern Yucatec. Instrumental nouns
co-occurred with neither classifier in Colonial Yucatec but are now classified by š in Modern Yucatec. On
the other hand, agentive nouns that were marked by -nal and classified by ah in Colonial Yucatec co-occur
with neither h nor š in Modern Yucatec.
Colonial Yucatec used ba ‘self’ in both reflexive and reciprocal constructions. Only the reflexive use
has survived in Modern Yucatec. The agentive suffix, -yah, in Colonial Yucatec does not occur in Modern
Yucatec. On the other hand, Modern Yucatec marks abstract and partitive nouns with different suffixes,
whereas Colonial Yucatec used the same suffix for both.
NOTES
1. The intervening consonant is -l-, not -h-, in Mopan (Hofling 2011:26).
2. When -il is suffixed to the names of domesticated plants in Modern Yucatec, it marks them as cultivated
in one’s own garden, contrasting with those that are purchased, which take no suffix when they are
possessed: im p’àakil ‘my tomato (cultivated)’ versus im p’àak ‘my tomato (purchased)’ (V. Bricker et al.
1998:360).
3. The parentheses around a classifier in this and other examples in this chapter indicate that its use is
optional.
4. According to Hofling (2008:4–6), the use of ah and ix as noun classifiers with faunal and botanical terms
is much more robust in Mopan than in the other Yucatecan languages, suggesting that the use of these
classifiers may have been more widespread in Proto-Yucatecan than it was in Colonial Yucatec.
CHAPTER 9
NUMBERS AND NUMERAL CLASSIFIERS
The Precolumbian Maya had a vigesimal number system that was used in a sophisticated system of time
reckoning extending thousands of years into the future and millions of years into the past (V. Bricker and
H. Bricker 2015; Stuart 2011), significant elements of which were still in use during the first half of the six-
teenth century, when the Spaniards arrived in the Yucatan peninsula. Numbers could not be used alone
for quantifying nouns; another word known as a “numeral classifier” was placed between the two words
(or substituted for the noun altogether). A number of numeral classifier phrases served as temporal and
spatial adverbs in Colonial Yucatec, thereby compensating for the lack of an adverbial form class in this
language.
1. NUMBER WORDS
The words for the number from one to eleven were monomorphemic in Colonial Yucatec:
(1)
hun ‘one’
ca ~ caa ~ cab ‘two’
ox ‘three’
can ‘four’
ho ‘five’
vac ~ uac ‘six’
vuc ~ uuc ‘seven’
vaxac ~ uaxac ‘eight’
bolon ‘nine’
lahun ‘ten’
buluc ‘eleven’
The numbers from twel
ve through nineteen were formed by combining all or part of lahun ‘ten’ with the
words for the numbers from two through nine:
(2)
lah=ca ~ lah=cab ‘twelve’
ox=lahun ‘thirteen’
can=lahun ‘fourteen’
ho=lahun ~ ho=lhun ‘fifteen’
233
234
NUMBERS AND NUMERAL CLASSIFIERS
vac=lahun ~ uac=lahun ‘sixteen’
vuc=lahun ~ uuc=lahun ‘seventeen’
vaxac=lahun ~ uaxac=lahun ‘eighteen’
bolon=lahun ~ bolon=hun ‘nineteen’
All of the numbers from one to nineteen are well represented in Colonial documents.
The vigesimal element in the Yucatecan number system begins with the name for twenty, hun kal (lit-
erally, ‘one twenty’). Multiples of this number were formed by combining the words for the numbers from
two through nineteen with kal:
(3)
hun kal ‘twenty’
ca kal ‘forty’
ox kal ‘sixty’
can kal ‘eighty’
ho kal ‘one hundred’
et cetera
The next higher-order number in this system was hun bak (literally, ‘one 400’). And hun pic referred to ‘eight
thousand’ (20 x 400). Both bak and pic appear in Colonial documents.
The words for the numbers from twenty one through thirty are well represented in Colonial documents
(except for the accidental gap of the missing twenty seven):
(4)
hun tu kal ‘twenty one’
ca tu kal ‘twenty two’
ox tu kal ‘twenty three’
can tu kal ‘twenty four’
ho tu kal ~ ho tuc kal ‘twenty five’
vac tu kal ~ uac tu kal ‘twenty six’
*vuc tu kal ~ *uuc tu kal ‘twenty seven’
vaxac tu kal ~ uaxac tu kal ‘twenty eight’
bolon tu kal ‘twenty nine’
lahun ca kal ‘thirty’
The status of tu in hun tu kal and the other numbers below thirty is unclear. It could represent t u ‘in its,’
implying that the numbers from one through nine are “in twenty,” that is, in the first score. On the other
hand, the presence of tuc in ho tuc kal suggests that what lies between the first and the third number is a
particle whose final consonant has been deleted in the other number terms in order to reduce the conso-
nant cluster resulting from the juxtaposition of tuc and kal.
It should be noted that tu was the element of choice in hieroglyphic spellings of the numbers between
twenty and forty on pages D.25 to D. 28 of the Dresden Codex, a Precolumbian Maya manuscript (Figure
9-1). But there, too, the presence of tu instead of tuc could have represented the implementation of a
phono logical process for reducing a cluster of two velar consonants to one.
Another seeming anomaly in the data set in (4) is that “thirty” is represented by lahun cakal, instead of