Ajaw

Ajaw (also ahau or ahaw in the older orthography) is a political rulership title attested from the epigraphic inscriptions of the pre-Columbian Maya civilization, with a meaning variously interpreted as "lord", "ruler", "king" or "leader". It denoted any of the leading class of nobles in a particular polity and was not limited to a single individual. Since the "ajaw" performed religious activities, it also designated a member of the Maya priesthood. The variant "kuhul ajaw" ("divine lord") indicates a sovereign leader of a polity, although the extent of the territory and influence controlled by an "ajaw" varied considerably, and could also be applied to persons who in theory recognised the overlordship of another person, dynasty or state. The title was also given to women, though generally prefixed with the sign Ix ("woman") to indicate their gender. The word comes from the Mayan languages, and is known from several of these languages in use at the time (such as in Classic Maya), as well as in their contemporary descendant languages (in which there may be observed some slight variations). "Ajaw" is the modernised orthography, as per the standard revision of Mayan orthography put forward in 1994 by the Guatemalan "Academia de Lenguas Mayas", and now widely adopted by Mayanist scholars. Before this standardisation, it was more commonly written as "Ahau", following the orthography of 16th-century Yucatec Maya in Spanish transcriptions (now "Yukatek" in the modernised style).

In the Maya hieroglyphics writing system, the representation of the word "ajaw" could be as either a logogram, or spelled-out syllabically. In either case quite a few glyphic variants are known.

"Ajaw" is also the name of the 20th named-day in the "tzolk'in" portion of the Maya calendar.

Notes

References

: cite book |author=aut|Kettunen, Harri |coauthors=and aut|Christophe Helmke |year=2005 |title=Introduction to Maya Hieroglyphs |format=PDF |publisher=Wayeb and Leiden University |url=http://www.mesoweb.com/resources/handbook/index.html |accessdate=2007-05-08 : cite web |author=aut|Montgomery, John |coauthors=with revisions by aut|Peter Mathews and aut|Christophe Helmke |year=2002–2007 |title=Dictionary of Maya Hieroglyphs |url=http://www.famsi.org/mayawriting/dictionary/montgomery/index.html |format=online version |work=Maya Hieroglyphic writing: Dictionaries |publisher=Foundation for the Advancement of Mesoamerican Studies, Inc (FAMSI) |accessdate=2007-05-08 : cite journal |author=aut|Osborne, Deborah |year=1994–95 |title=The History of the Transcription of the Mayan Languages |url=http://www.vjf.cnrs.fr/celia/FichExt/Am/A_19-20_39.pdf |format=PDF|journal=Amerindia, Revue d'Ethnolinguistique amérindienne |volume=19-20 |pages=pp.435–442 |issn=0221-8852|accessdate=2007-05-08: cite book |author=aut|Thomas, Cyrus |authorlink=Cyrus Thomas |year=1897 |chapter=Day Symbols of the Maya Year |chapterurl=http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/18973/ |format=Project Gutenberg EBook online reproduction |editor=J. W. Powell (ed.) |title=Sixteenth Annual Report of the Bureau of American Ethnology to the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, 1894–1895 |location=Washington DC |publisher=Bureau of American Ethnology, Smithsonian Institution; U.S. Government Printing Office |pages=pp.199–266 |oclc=14963920

External links

* [http://research.famsi.org/montgomery_dictionary/mt_entry.php?id=1264 'AJAW'] , sound file and syllabic glyph example at John Montgomery's "Dictionary of Maya Hieroglyphs," published online at FAMSI