[Aztlan] Re: 2012: Was there a word for 'repetition'?

[JSJusteson at aol.com]

According to Carlsen's discussion of the form k'exoj in the couplet jaloj  
k'exoj, the root of Tzutujil k'exoj is k'ex, not k'eh or k'ej; this agrees with  
Kaufman's Mayan Vocabulary Survey data for Tzutujil.  It comes from  
proto-Mayan *k'ex 'to (ex)change' (see p. 781 of the preliminary Mayan  Etymological 
Dictionary posted at _http://www.famsi.org/reports/01051/index.html_ 
(http://www.famsi.org/reports/01051/index.html) ),  which has cognates in Lowland Mayan 
languages and must be a different root  from the one cited by MacLeod.
 
John Justeson

Barb  MacLeod discussed the Yukatek word k'eh as a word for 'repetition',
used to  reflect the concept of 'return to a calendric starting point' as
well as  'repetition of a prior event'.

It might be worth noting the highland  Maya (Tzutujil) paradigm of change
known as Jaloj Kexoj, in which Keh is a  root concept relating to
sequences of self-replacements, such as the sun  replacing it on daily
levels (at dawn) and yearly levels (at the December  solstice). Or a
newborn replacing the grandparent. Jal is change at the  husk while Kej
(or by different orthography, Keh) is change at the seed, or  core. The
concept seems closely related to the Yukatek usage, perhaps  supplying an
even deeper reading, and was explored by Carlsen and Prechtel  in the
essays:

Carlsen, Robert S., and Martín Prechtel 
1988  Weaving and Cosmos amongst the Tzutujil Maya of Guatemala.  Res
15:122-132.

Carlsen, Robert S., and Martín Prechtel
1990 The  Flowering of the Dead: An Interpretation of Highland Maya
Culture. Man  (N.S.) 26:23-42.