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THE

Ancient Phonetic Alphabet OF YUCATAN.

OST readers are quite familiar with the fact that a well-developed method of picture writing, or "didactic

painting," as it has been appropriately named, prevailed through Mexico and Central America for

centuries before the conquest. But that, in the latter country, there was a true phonetic alphabet, is one of

the more recent discoveries of American archæology, and certainly one of the most interesting, as it

promises to restore to us the records of the most cultivated nation of ancient America for a number of

centuries previous to the advent of the white man.

It is well-known that the forests of Yucatan conceal the ruins of cities and palaces built of stones

covered with inscribed characters. All travelers who had seen these characters were convinced that they

were intended to perpetuate ideas, but the key seemed to be irrevocably lost. Fortunately, within the last

few years (to be exact, in December, 1863), a diligent antiquarian, the Abbé Brasseur de Bourbourg,

unearthed in a library in Madrid—that of the Royal Academy of History—a copy of an unpublished

description of Yucatan composed by Diego de Landa, the first bishop of the country. In this was contained

the phonetic alphabet employed by the aboriginal Mayas, with a tolerably full, but an intolerably obscure,

explanation of their mode of using it. As De Landa's words are so important, and also not a little difficult

to comprehend, we cannot do better than transcribe them exactly as they appear in the copy of his work

published at Paris, in 1864.

He premises his remarks by saying that the natives used certain characters or letters with which they

wrote in books their ancient histories and sciences, and by means of these letters, and figures, and

certain signs in the figures, they could understand and teach from these manuscripts. The missionaries

found very many of them, all of which, the good bishop informs us, proved on examination to contain

more lies and superstitions, and were consequently burned, which pained the natives in the most

marvelous manner (lo qual a maravilla sentian, y les dava pena).

He then continues:—

"De sus letras porné aqui un a , b , c , que no permite su pesadumbre mas, porque usan para todas las aspiraciones de las letras de un caracter, y despues, al puntar de las partes otro, y assi viene a hazer in infinitum , como se podra ver en el siguiente exemplo. Lé quière dezir laço y caçar con el; para escrivirle con sus caracteres, haviendolos nosotros hecho entender que son dos letras, lo escrivian ellos con tres, poniendo a la aspiracion de la l la vocal é , que antes de si trae, y en esto no hierran, aunque usense, si quisieron ellos de su curiosidad. Exemplo:—

Hieroglyphs

Dèspues al cabo le pegan la parte junta. Ha que quiere dezir agua, porque la haché tiene a , h , antes de si la ponen ellos al principio con a , y al cabo desta manera:—

Hieroglyph

Tambien lo escriben a partes, pero de la una y otra manera, yo no pusiera aqui ni trétara dello sino por dar cuenta entera de las cosas desta gente. Ma in kati quiere decir no quiero, ellos lo escriben a partes desta manera:—

Hieroglyphs

This is all on the subject the bishop vouchsafes us. Let us now attempt a free translation of his words,

premising that they are so obscure in parts, and the composition so careless and provincial, that we shall

not take it at all amiss if any reader thinks he can improve our rendering:

"Of their letters, I shall place here an A, B, C, their clumsiness not allowing more; for they employ one

character for all the aspirations of the letters, and another to denote their repetitions, and so they go on

in infinitum , as one may see in the following example: Le means a lasso and to hunt with one. In order to

write with their characters, although we told them it contains but two letters, they make use of three,

giving to the aspiration of the l the vowel é , which is before it, and in this they are not in error, if they

wish to write it in their curious manner. Example:

e l e lé

Afterwards they put at the end the part which is joined. Again in ha , which means water, because the

letter h contains the sounds a, h, they place the a both at the beginning and at the end, in this manner:—

a h a

They can write it either with separate letters or united together. I would not have inserted nor have

mentioned this but that I wished to give a complete description of this people. Ma in kati means I do not

wish ; they write it in separate letters in this way:—

ma i n ka ti ."

From these valuable though too scanty hints we learn that the letters were employed connected

together in a manner somewhat analogous to, though more intimately than our cursive shrift, and also

separately, as in the Roman alphabet. When the latter was the case, they were repeated apparently in

their connected form. Further, the vowel sound which is necessarily associated with the enunciation of

every consonant ( la aspiracion ), and which in the Maya language of Yucatan is so pronounced as to have

been called by the Abbé de Bourbourg, " une certaine affectation gutturale ," was taken account of, and

expressed in writing. Then there were a number of arbitrary signs, figures, and symbols, with syllabic

values, as we see in the last example given. These peculiarities, of course, make the system clumsy, but

are by no means insurmountable difficulties in the way of elucidating it.

Immediately at the close of the foregoing extract Bishop Landa gives the alphabet subjoined, which has

been carefully copied on wood, by Mr. Edward Bensell, of Philadelphia, the arrangement of the letters

being slightly altered:—

Table of hieroglyphs with phonetic values

Besides these elementary sounds, he gives twenty arbitrary signs, one for each day of the Maya month,

which signs seem also to be used at their syllabic value in writing words. All of them have the same

peculiar rounded or circular form which is observable in most of the letters, and which has induced some

writers to call this the "Calculiform" alphabet.

But returning to the A, B, C, let us inquire the meanings of the figures adopted. Knowing these, we shall

be in better position to recognise their variations on existing inscriptions and manuscripts—for these, as

we expect, are considerable; but not more so, perhaps, than the variations in the forms of the Roman

letters.

a. Nos. 1, 2, and 4, are representations of the heads of some animals, No. 2 being evidently the head of

a bird with a long curved beak, probably a species of parrot. No. 3 has been supposed to represent a leg

or a boot of some kind, but is probably also a rude figure of a head, (See Plate XXXVI. of the manuscrit

Troano .)

b. Both these letters are supposed to represent a path or way bearing the marks of foot prints, indicated

by the small figures inside the circle.

c. This letter should probably be pronounced ka ( a as in mate), and is imagined to represent a mouth

displaying sharp teeth.

ca. This sign is explained as the jaw of an animal thickly set with teeth; but a careful examination of its

variations leads to the belief that it is a representation of the eye lashes. (See the Etudes sur le Manuscrit

Troano , p. 55.)

cu. This has not been identified.

t. As there is no d in Maya this character stands for both t and d. It signifies space, the four marks

leading towards the center representing the four cardinal points, and the phonetic base being the Maya,

preposition ti , in, toward, at, in space.

e. Probably a front view of the human face, surmounted by the hair, the dots marking the eyes, nose and

mouth.

k. Nos. 12 and 13, variations of the same, represent a joint of bamboo. No. 14 is the guttural h,

pronounced ha , which word in Maya means water. The figure represents a stream flowing around some

objects.

i. This letter stems formed after the analogy of c, but no satisfactory analysis has yet been offered.

k, ku. The k is beyond doubt derived from a head seen in profile. The upper figure within the circle is

the closed eye with its lashes (compare No. 8); that below on the right is the ear (compare No. 28); that

on the left the mouth. (See the variations in the Etudes sur le Manuscrit Troano , p. 55.) The ku is

supposed to be a drawing of the sacred "medicine bag."

l. Neither of these has been resolved.

m. This also, is the figure of a head. It is distinguished from the k by the eye being open, from the p by

the absence of dots around the mouth.

n. Possibly the figure of a serpent.

o. Variations of the same, of uncertain origin.

p, pp. Again the face in profile.

x. The first figure is easily recognised as the human hand, the second as a face in profile, emitting

the Manuscript is an absurdity, and can never obtain a serious hearing in scientific circles.

A very different student is M. H. de Charencey, long favorably known for his researches into the Basque

language, the dialects of Central America, and other critical publications. In the first volume of the Actes

la Société Philologique (Paris, 1870) he has an " Essai de Déchiffrement d'un Fragment d'Inscription

Palenquienne ." He takes for his subject the famous "bas-relief of the Cross," found on the back of the

great altar at Palenque. It is portrayed in Stephens's Travels in Central America, and more carefully in the

work of Cabrera on the ruins of Palenque, from a drawing by M. de Waldeck. It seems to represent the

ceremony of baptism, or something analogous to it. The central figures are surrounded by inscriptions.

Immediately above the bird which surmounts the cross is found this character:—

Hieroglyph

This he analyses as follows, commencing at the right: h (variation of No. 13 of the alphabet), o

(variation of No. 22 enclosed in a circle), nab (the Maya word for the palm of the hand which supports the

middle letter), ku (variation of No. 17),= honabku. This, in the orthography hunabku , a discrepancy of no

great moment, is a familiar Maya name of divinity, and means the only , or the one God. The course of

argument by which he supports this analysis is careful and judicious.

The second group which M. de Charencey analyses is this:—

Hieroglyph

This he resolves, commencing at the right hand upper figure, proceeding from above downward, and

from right to left, into the following letters of Landa's alphabet:

u, ku, ku, l, ca, nab,

meaning "it, or those, of the Kukulcan." Kukulcan, however was the name of the hero god of the Mayas,

corresponding to the Quetzalcoatl of the Aztecs. His worship was introduced into Yucatan subsequent to

the ninth century of the Christian era, and his name means in Maya precisely what Quetzalcoatl does in

Aztec, namely, "the serpent with quetzal feathers," the quetzal being a species of parrot with bright green

plumage. This interpretation, therefore, if admitted, fixes an important date in Central American history;

for it proves that the erection of the extraordinary monuments of Palenque, which were found in ruins at

the conquest, took place subsequent to the ninth century of our era.

It is not our object at present to go into the details of these remarkable investigations, still less to

criticise them at length, but simply to give their outlines and results. They should excite an earnest

interest in this country, and stimulate our scholars to turn their attention to the antiquities of our own

continent, which thus acquire an importance quite equal to those on the banks of the Euphrates and the

Nile, which have commanded such profound study from European scholars.

Decorative

Transcriber's Note

The following errors have been maintained.

Page Error Correction

5 manuscrit Troano Manuscrit Troano

7 churche churches

7 Paris, 1864. Paris, 1864.)

7 Travels in Central America Travels in Central America

The following words were inconsistently spelled:

Impériale / Imperiale

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