A Collocation Denoting a 'Substitute'
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
A Collocation Denoting a ‘Substitute’ Relationship in Classic Maya Inscriptions JORGE L. OREJEL UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS, AUSTIN Introduction of the one denoted by noun phrase2. Two parallel verbal clauses in the The argument is based on the fact that Palenque inscriptions, one from Temple XVIII clause (1) is of the form verb-subject, where and the other from the Palace Tablet (fig. 1), relationship and noun phrase2 are part of the pertain to the respective participation of subject named by noun phrase1 (possibly with Chaacal and Kan-Xul in the so-called “deer additional titles). Such a naming pattern is well hoof-in-hand” event (Schele 1988:84-85). attested in Classic Maya renditions of royal From the ages of the subjects (14 and 7 years, names. An example of a “standard” form respectively) at the time of the event, Schele occurs in the text on Yaxchilán Stela 11 where inferred that the event involved a rite ap- Bird Jaguar’s name is followed by a number of propriate to young future rulers. Following the appellatives, including the ‘child-of-woman’ subject, both clauses contain a collocation (at and ‘child-of-parent’ relationships (Schele B18a and F9, in fig. 1) that Schele tentatively 1990:46): identified as denoting either an agency or a Bird Jaguar, relationship because it is followed by a phrase captor of Ah Cauac, he of 20 captives, naming a set of deities, including the members 3-katun batab, divine Yaxchilán ahaw of the Palenque Triad.1 (duplicated), This paper demonstrates that the child-of-woman Lady Ik Skull ... titles of mother, collocation in question denotes a substitute child-of parent Shield Jaguar ... titles of father. relationship between two individuals. In par- On the other hand, an example involv- ticular, in terms of the general verbal clause: ing a ‘subservient’ relationship between two [verb] [noun phrase1] [relationship] [noun phrase2] individuals is found in the text on Arroyo de a case is made that the entity denoted by noun Piedra Stela 2 (Houston and Mathews phrase1 is the substitute (or the representative) 1985:18-19, fig. 12): Fig. 1. Comparative analysis of phrases from Palenque texts. (a) Tablet of Temple XVIII, (b) Palace Tablet, (c) Tablet of the Foliated Cross, (d) Tablet of Temple XIV (after Schele 1988: 84-85). 1 Fig. 2. Verbal clauses involving a “substitute” or “representative” relationship. (a, b) Palace Tablet, Palenque (after Schele 1988); (c) Tablet of the Sun, Palenque (after Schele 1987); (d) West Panel of the Temple of the Inscriptions, Palenque (after Schele 1986); (e) Dumbarton Oaks Relief Panel 4 (after Miller and Stuart 1981). Yax-bi, Ah Cauac, divine Arroyo de Piedra follows that the relationship linking them is also ahau, the same. The equivalence between the colloca- yahaw (the subservient of) [literally, ‘his tions at F9 (fig. 2a) and H14 (fig. 2b) is support- lord’ or ‘the lord of’] ed by the fact that they have a similar superfix Shield-God K, divine Dos Pilas ahau. and the same subfix. All of the constituent glyphs of the The ‘Substitute’ Relationship collocation at H14 (fig. 2b) have known read- Consider the parallel clauses shown in ings. The prefix has a phonetic value of yi fig. 2. The clause in fig. 2a is a shorter version (Stuart 987:25-28). The superfix represents an of that in fig. lb, showing only GI’s name after ear of corn (its counterpart at F9 in fig. 2a the relationship collocation under considera- shows the silk emerging from the ear of corn), tion. A comparison of the clauses in fig. 2a and and Yucatec NAL ‘maiz en mazorca/ear of 2b reveals not only that they have the same corn’ (Barrera-Vásquez 1980:557)2 is the cur- structure, but also that the texts following their rently accepted reading for the glyph (Schele et corresponding verbs have essentially the same al. 1990:3). The main sign depicts the back semantic value. The constituents of the general view of a grasping hand, and its phonetic value clause (1) match the two clauses as indicated has been shown to be c h i (Justeson and below (cf. Schele 1988:67, 69): Campbell 1984:350). The phonetic reading of noun phrase1 the subfix as la is easily derived from the spell- F8-E9: Ox-Bat-Cab, titles ing ah-pi-tzi-la-wa-la of Chan-Bahlum’s title H12-G14:Ox-Bat-Cab, titles ‘he the ballplayer’ at L3 on the Palace Tablet relationship (Schele 1988:73). F9: k’exol (successor) Accepting Stuart’s argument that the H14: verb or relationship or agency NAL glyph is read last even though it follows noun phrase2 the prefix and precedes the main sign in the E10-E11: Hun-Ah-Pu, GI, Rodent Bone reading order (cf. Houston 1989:34), the com- G15-16: the blood of Hun-Ah-Pu, GI bined values of the constituent glyphs yield the Since both clauses involve the same pair potential word yichilanal.3 of individuals at the same structural positions, it Stuart (letter to Schele 1988), on the 2 Fig. 3. Name phrases of rulers from the Petexbatún region, naming Seibal rulers as their local substitutes/ representatives in reign. (a) Aguateca Stela 2; (b) Dos Pilas Stela 16; (c) Seibal Tablets 2 and 3 (drawings by Ian Graham 1967 [a, b], and Peter Mathews [c]). assumption that Chol is the language represent- A viable solution to the problem is pre- ed in the Classic inscriptions, and appealing to sented by the Yucatec word ichilan and its well-known phonological correspondences derivatives (cf. Barrera Vásquez 1980:99, 263): between Chol and Yucatec in the equivalence (ah) chilan presidente que preside por yik(i) = yich(i), posited the hypothetical Cholan otro; presidente, en lugar de otro/president who word yichnal as a reading for the collocation on presides in place of another the basis of the Yucatec word yiknal (cf. Schele chilam intérprete, naguato/interpreter and Freidel 1990:457). The unpossessed form chiilan,t tomar por medianero o interce- of the word should be iknal, ‘con, en compañía, sor o farsante que hable por él/to take as middle en poder, en casa/with, in the company (of), in man, mediator, or farce actor to speak on his the power (of), in the house (of)’ (Barrera- behalf Vásquez 1980:265-266). Houston (1989:34) chilan,t medianero, tomar por medi- went even further in stating: The compound [yi- anero/mediator, to take as mediator chi-NAL, or yichnal, ‘together nest with’ in ichilan delegado, presidente, teniente Cholan] separates the name glyphs of Maya que está en lugar de otro, puesto con las veces lords and tells us that they did something de otro, suplente/delegate, president, deputy or together, the second person supervising the substitute in place of another, performing the first. duties of another, substitute From this interpretation, Houston then yichilan ahaw virrey/viceroy derived the formula ‘subordinate’ + yichnal + yichilan yahaw kaan provisor del obis- ‘superordinate.’4 It is noteworthy that the rela- po o vicario asi/provider to the bishop or vicar tionship collocation presented by Houston AH ICHILAL delegado/delegate (1989:34) lacks the subfix la, thus lending sup- These glosses suggest reading the yi- port to the derivation of yichnal. chi-la-NAL spelling of the collocation in ques- The above meanings would allow read- tion as (y)ichilan(al), with the NAL glyph ing the clause in fig. 2b thus “(He) displayed working solely to provide the final n .6 the God K scepter, Ox-Bat-Cab ... in the com- Considering the support provided by Tzotzil pany of Hun-Ah-Pu, GI ...“ However, a prob- chi’ilil ‘townsman, companion, sibling, rela- lem facing the proposed yichnal reading is that tive, similar or identical object’ ( L a u g h l i n it does not work for the structurally equivalent 1975:116), it can be posited that ichilan may collocation at F9 (fig. 2a), which has been read have been borrowed by Yucatec from Chol. The as k’exol ‘the successor of’ (Schele 1988:67), reading then presents a productive solution: the for the phrase “Ox-Bat-Cab ... the successor of collocations at F9 (fig. 2a) and H14 (fig. 2b) are Hun-Ah-Pu, GI ...“ in fig. 2a would not be not entirely identical, and yet they must have equivalent to its counterpart in fig. 2b. Hence, the same semantics. The words ichilan and the inconsistency must be removed by seeking k’exol perfectly fit such a pattern of synonymy, an alternative meaning for the relationship for their interchangeability is supported by glyph.5 terms relevant to the latter in both Chol (Aulie 3 and Aulie 1978:102) and Tzotzil (Laughlin the namesake / substitute of GI. The acquisition 1988:232): of this quality by Chan-Bahlum is not acciden- Chol: tal, for Maya rulers were considered to be the k’ex cambiar/to trade incarnations (hence, the substitutes or represen- * k ’ e x o l t ru e q u e/trade, exchange; tatives) of the gods before the commoners tocayo/ namesake (Schele and Miller 1986:108; Hendrickson k’exolan sustituir (cargo, nombre)/to 1989:138-139; Schele and Freidel 1990:Ch. 6). substitute, to fill-in (duty, name), to act as The modified reading of the clause in deputy of someone else fig. 2c has a most interesting implication. From Tzotzil: their iconographic analysis of the masks on the k’exol deputy (of warden or governor), façade of Structure 5C-2nd at Cerros, Belize, substitute, vicar Schele and Freidel (1990, fig. 3:15) established k’exol rey viceroy that the masks are representations of the k’exolil successor Headband Twins (i.e., the Hero Twins of the k’extay exchange, fill another’s role, Popol Vuh).