Introduction to Maya Hieroglyphs - Wayeb

Kettunen & Helmke 2011
The Writing System
homophones:
• buy ⎯ by ⎯ bye
• cite ⎯ sight ⎯ site
• right ⎯ rite ⎯ wright ⎯ write
• who’s ⎯ whose ⎯ hoos ⎯ hoose (verminous bronchitis of cattle)
• weather ⎯ whether ⎯ wether (a castrated male sheep)
12. NUMBER OF KNOWN HIEROGLYPHS
One of the most common questions to epigraphers concerns the number or percentage of deciphered hieroglyphs.
The answer is somewhat more complex than one might expect. First of all, we have to consider what we mean by
“deciphered”. If we were to calculate the number of hieroglyphs whose phonetic value we know, the total would
be around 80 percent. On the other hand, if we were to estimate the number of signs whose meaning is securely
attested, the number is considerably lower, around 60 percent. The problem lies in the fact that there are a
number of hieroglyphs in the script whose:
• phonetic value is known but the meaning escapes decipherment (more commonly in the case of fully
phonetically written signs)
• meaning is known but the phonetic value is uncertain, vague, or not known at all
• phonetic value and meaning are only partly known (for example a word standing for a ritual that was
performed before adulthood)
• phonetic value and meaning are only partially known, or not at all
phonetic value:
yes
no
meaning:
yes completely deciphered gray area
no gray area completely undeciphered
Yet another problem is that of what we mean by saying that the meaning of a particular hieroglyph is known. The
meaning of a single hieroglyph or a set of hieroglyphs in a sentence might be known 35 but the profound
contextual significance and implications of the word and sentences need to be checked against all other possible
sources, such as ethnology, archaeology, iconography, and present day manifestations of the Maya culture(s). In a
word, Maya epigraphy at its best is a multi- and interdisciplinary branch of learning heavily based on linguistics
but taking into account all possible sources and academic disciplines.
On the whole, in all its complexity, the Maya hieroglyphic system is merely one way to make a spoken language
visible, and to quote the late Yuri Knorozov: “I believe that anything invented by humans can be deciphered by
humans” (Kettunen 1998a).
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A further distinction is made between a gloss and a translation: a gloss provides a reading for an isolated hieroglyph whereas an accurate
translation takes into account the syntax and semantics in the sentence.
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