tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7760763218965944999.post6877211524120276595..comments2023-04-06T06:33:33.718-07:00Comments on Maya Mythos: Analysis of the Term K’ojob in Era Day ExpressionsUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7760763218965944999.post-6553112053666042622012-05-31T13:54:28.793-07:002012-05-31T13:54:28.793-07:00Carl, this is by far the most thorough and most ac...Carl, this is by far the most thorough and most accurate essay available on this term of paramount importance. I would like to share some ideas about it. One is that I believe the term /k'oj/ to have originated in a Yucatecan language. This (to a grammar nut like me) is the only explanation for the variants of the spelling we see on the monuments. But these are otherwise Ch'olan texts, so I conclude that the word was (as were a number of other Yucatecan archaisms) borrowed by Ch'olan speakers or retained in an archaic lexicon --I'd love to say from El Mirador-- that predated the Early Classic Ch'olan expansion. There's lots of other evidence, but that's a story for another day. So these are the words that I think are equivalent: /k'oj/ and /k'ojo(o)b/ and a third derived (contracted) form /k'oob/. I now hesitate to add /k'ojba(ah)/ 'image' to the list as the others explain all examples. /k'oj/ in Yucatecan means not only 'mask' but in a broader sense,'representative', 'something that stands for another'. The word (*/j/) as such appears in the Cordemex as 'statue', 'image' as well as 'one who is masked'. I found the term (=/k'oj bakab/) in the Chumayel, suggesting that the Bakabs ('pourers'), who are station-holders of the ha'ab and of the cardinal directions, can also be /k'oj/. Penultimately, Dave Stuart (p.c. 2010) noted a substitution at Tortuguero that I have increasingly agreed with--in the name of Bahlam Ajaw's mother. One example is on TRT Mon. 8 and the other is on TRT 6; on Mon 8 the spelling is T174:530, and on Mon. 6 it is /k'o-jo/ (with the "fist" /k'o/ sign). Dave told me he thinks T174:530 is probably K'OJ. Sven and I took a different position in our 2010 Wayeb Notes 34 paper, but I agree with Dave now. The compound appears to represent an *altar*--both as the T530 main sign and as the T174 superfix with its three "feet" depicted on either side of the little "stone". That said, I think T174:530 also reads AK 'seat' whenever it takes a /ya/ prefix. So we are closing in on the meaning of /k'oj/ not only as the pedestal altars you describe (at Copan, La Joyanca, Yaxchilan) but in a more metaphysical sense, as a 'representative' of the deity. This is why I suggested that the thing is the pedestal as well as what rests on top of the pedestal--all of it *awakened* during ritual. Finally, in Yucatec the intransitive verb /k'ojol/ (see in the Cordemex) means 'to give birth'. This would explain the /-Vb/ (echo of the root vowel) instrumental suffix. But it only explains it in Yucatecan, because the instrumental is (non-echo) /-ib/ in Ch'olan and /k'ojol/ 'give birth' does not appear in Ch'olan languages. So if we unpack this root /k'oj-ob/ a little deeper, we find it to mean something like 'instrument for birthing'. Aha!! Make offerings to it and voila! it comes alive. BarbAnonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09053793879162874234noreply@blogger.com