[Aztlan] From Erik Boot: The STAR-over-SHELL and STAR-over-EARTH logograms

[Barb MacLeod]

Listeros,

Erik Boot, who is not a member of Aztlan, has asked me to post the following text on his behalf.
Barb

Erik said:

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In April 1995, I wrote and distributed a short manuscript in which 
I proposed a tentative decipherment of the "Star-over-Shell" war 
expression as /hay/ "to destroy" and "Star-over-Earth" as /hay kah/ 
"to destroy villages". I based my suggestion on the presence of water 
stacks on the left and right of the central element (either 
/Shell/~/yi/ or /Earth/~/KAH/). The stacked water signs could be 
replaced by dotted lines, also indicating water. The water signs 
could indicate HA' "water" and spell part of the root of the verb 
expressed by the "Star-over-Shell" and Star-over-Earth" collocations, 
thus /ha-/. 
 
Very tentatively I suggested that the "Star" element may have been 
an abbreviated Sky Band, for instance to be found in the Dresden 
Codex Page 72 (with the large crocodile entity emerging from the 
side of the Sky Band; actually from the "Star" sign of the Sky Band) 
and pouring water from its opened jaws. This water stream may be
considered a tormental or destructive rain from the sky).
 
I took the "Shell" element as the second part of the spelling, thus 
ha- + /yi/, arriving tentatively at /hay/. This root /hay/ appears 
in Yucatec Maya in the composite /hay kabal/ "destruccion del mundo; 
el fin del mundo; etc." (DMC 191; the entry from the Motul makes it 
clear that initial /h/ is meant and not intial /j/). The verb that 
forms the root of this expression is /hay,ah/ "destruir, solar
derribando, etc" (DMC 190). As I took the EARTH sign to refer to 
/kah/ (a reading just proposed at that time, but now considered 
in error), I suggested to read the "Star-over-Earth" as /hay kah/ 
"to destroy villages," based on /kah/ "village, town" (note DMC 
190, /haykah/ "asolar asi; asolar, destruir pueblos"). In 
correspondence on this same war expression with Barbara 
MacLeod in November 2009 I now suggest that these war expressions 
may read /hay/ for "Star-over-Shell" and /hay kab/ for "Star-
over-Earth," still based on a tormental and destructive rain 
from the sky.
 
In general, the "Star-over-Shell" as /hay/ is followed by a place 
name, thus /hay + placename/ "destroy such-and-such place." In 
general, the "Star-over-Earth" as /hay kab/ is followed by the 
name of a high dignitary or king, thus /hay kab + king/ "destroy-
world of such-and-such king." There are several important and 
unique spellings, e.g., "Star-over-Shell" ti "Seibal" at Dos Pilas
and tu-"Star-over-Shell"-yi-la at Piedras Negras, which will 
contribute to our understanding of this war expression.
 
Following a suggestion by MacLeod (November 2009), there is a good 
chance that the war expressions "Star-over-Shell" and "Star-over-
Earth" are simply variants (with one incorporating the sign "Earth") 
for /hay/ "destroy, collapse." 
 
This is still a tentative proposal, and work on this collocation
continues (I have close to 40 examples at present) as well as on the 
morphology of the proposed verb root.
 
In order of completeness, other proposals for this war expression 
include ch'ay- (Zender), ek'may- (who?), jub- (Houston), nay- 
(Prager), tz'ay-/tz'oy- (Lacadena), and uk'- (Chinchilla).
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