[Aztlan] Water over earth

[David Hixson]

Michael Grofe wrote --

haiyokocab

/ha/ = 'water'
/yook'ol/ = 'over/on top of' from the adverbial root /ok'/, meaning 'above,
over, on top of'
/kab'/ = 'earth'

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Michael,

This would have been my translation of haiyokocab as well.  Except for the extra /i/ inserted into the word.

I would have expected, based upon standard Maya root formation that there would have been a consonant or a glide
before or in place of the /i/.

/ha/   /'i[l]/   /yoko[l]/   /cab/

A quick look through the Cordemex resolved this question for me, as there is in fact a word "ha'il" (with the glottal
stop between the vowels).  This term is glossed as "acuatico, aguadija, secrecion".

Without that glottal stop, I don't think one should ignore that /i/ as possibly changing the meaning of this term.

Therefore, while I still think Michael's transcription of the various roots within this term are absolutely correct, I do
caution that this seems to assume an insertion of a consonant between the first two vowels, or the the omission
of the second vowel.

Perhaps there is a linguist on the list who could explain the placement of this /i/, since I welcome any corrections
to my understanding of Maya orthography.

-Dave

 __________________________________________________
David Hixson
Ph.D. Candidate
Tulane Anthropology
chunchucmil at yahoo.com
www.mesoamerican-archives.com


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