The Ancient Phonetic Alphabet of Yucatan Part 1

The Ancient Phonetic Alphabet of Yucatan.

by Daniel G. Brinton.

Most 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 archaeology, 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the Abbe Bra.s.seur de Bourbourg, unearthed in a library in Madrid--that of the Royal Academy of History--a copy of an unpublished description of Yucatan composed by Diego de Landa, the first bishop of the country.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 ma.n.u.scripts. The missionaries found very many of them, all of which, the good bishop informs us, proved on examination to contain more lies and superst.i.tions, 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 p.o.r.ne 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 a.s.si viene a hazer _in infinitum_, como se podra ver en el siguiente exemplo. _Le_ quiere dezir laco y cacar 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 _e_, que antes de si trae, y en esto no hierran, aunque usense, si quisieron ellos de su curiosidad.

Exemplo:--

[Ill.u.s.tration]

Despues al cabo le pegan la parte junta. _Ha_ que quiere dezir agua, porque la _hache_ tiene _a_, _h_, antes de si la ponen ellos al principio con _a_, y al cabo desta manera:--

[Ill.u.s.tration]

Tambien lo escriben a partes, pero de la una y otra manera, yo no pusiera aqui ni tretara 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:--

[Ill.u.s.tration]

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 repet.i.tions, and so they go on _in infinitum_, as one may see in the following example: _Le_ means a la.s.so 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 _e_, 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 le

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 a.n.a.logous 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 a.s.sociated with the enunciation of every consonant (_la aspiracion_), and which in the Maya language of Yucatan is so p.r.o.nounced as to have been called by the Abbe 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:--

[Ill.u.s.tration: 1 _a_]

[Ill.u.s.tration: 2 _a_]

[Ill.u.s.tration: 3 _a_]

[Ill.u.s.tration: 4 _a_]

[Ill.u.s.tration: 5 _b_]

[Ill.u.s.tration: 6 _b_]

[Ill.u.s.tration: 7 _c_]

[Ill.u.s.tration: 8 _ca_]

[Ill.u.s.tration: 9]

[Ill.u.s.tration: 10 _t_]

[Ill.u.s.tration: 11 _e_]

[Ill.u.s.tration: 12 _h_]

[Ill.u.s.tration: 13 _h_]

[Ill.u.s.tration: 14 _ha_]

[Ill.u.s.tration: 15 _i_]

[Ill.u.s.tration: 16 _k_]

[Ill.u.s.tration: 17 _ku_]

[Ill.u.s.tration: 18 _l_]

[Ill.u.s.tration: 19 _l_]

[Ill.u.s.tration: 20 _m_]

[Ill.u.s.tration: 21 _n_]

[Ill.u.s.tration: 22 _o_]

[Ill.u.s.tration: 23 _o_]

[Ill.u.s.tration: 24 _p_]

[Ill.u.s.tration: 25 _pp_]

[Ill.u.s.tration: 26 _x_]