[Aztlan] laak'

[Paul Sullivan]

I didn't know this little term was so pregnant with points for discussion.

I'd be hard pressed to prove this without more study, but my 
impression is that the term "laak'" contrasts with the term "hel" in 
otherwise similar expressions, and that the contrast reveals 
something of the connotations of each word.

One can form sentences in Yucatec Maya each of which would translate 
properly into English as: "Give me another."  If one uses laak' to 
mean "another," it carries the connotation, "another of the 
same/similar kind."  If one uses "hel", it means "another of a different kind."

Hube Smith reminded me, for example, that a common Yucatec Maya 
expression of parting is "hasta tu laak' k'iin," "Until another 
day."  But one can also say, "hasta tu hel k'iin,", "Until another 
(different) day."

Anyway, my hypothesis would be that the various dictionary glosses of 
the term laak' should be construed as implying similarity of kind, 
whatever other relationship is being implied -- i.e. kinship, 
companionship, the other one of a pair of things, etc.

There are other Yucatec Maya terms that will also imply, in even more 
powerful ways, intrinsic relationship between two things -- like the 
term "nup" which is most commonly used to refer to the other one of a 
pair of things -- i.e. "Where's the other sock," but which also is 
extended to refer to someone's spouse ("Where's your "nup"" = where's 
your other half,) and which in the Books of Chilam Balam is used to 
denote the paired relationship between events of world destruction 
and creation (creation is the "nup" of destruction).