My Suggestions for Deciphering Maya Hieroglyphs
By
Wu Siu Yan
19 Sept 2002
First of all, I must say that I know little about Maya Hieroglyphs, or Hebrew. I write the following for your consideration only, though with the best of my knowledge. However, you would not understand what I write here, if you do not think that Book of Mormon is a true historical record of Mayans of America for the period 600 B.C. to 420 A.D., because my conclusions are based on the material in that book.
(I say that, "the Book of Mormon is true history, 600 B.C. - 420 A.D., of Mayans", but it does not mean that I commend to you the Mormon Church! In fact, I oppose the practices of the Mormon Church. You join the Mormon Church at your own risk.)
The Chinese Writing System
Chinese writing began with "ideograms", or "pictograms" conveying ideas.
At that time, paper had not been invented, and unlike the West that used sheep skin to record down events, Chinese used bamboo (or turtle shell), by carving onto the surface.
It is difficult to carve curve/circular lines onto the surface of bamboo, so they straightened all curve/circular lines into straight or near-straight lines.
(Note : the oldest Chinese glyphs had curve lines ! but our ancestors made changes to those glyphs, and invented the Chinese glyphs, which remained practically unchanged since Chow Dynasty, Qin Dynasty. Noah used the Hebrew Hieroglyph, so his sons, Shem, Ham, Japheth must have known that too. But after the tower of Babel
[Gen 11] , the languages followed different path of development, but still we can find similarities in the languages. Chinese were the sons of Japheth.)They also re-arranged, or combined, the "ideograms" to mean different things, e.g. they combined "sun", and "moon" to mean "bright" (adjective) as well as "enlighten, understand" (verb).
However, they gave EVERY "ideograms" an individual sound, e.g. "bright" was given a sound totally different from the sound for "sun", nor "moon", nor "sun-moon" combined. Therefore there are thousands of "ideograms" in Chinese, all with their own sounds.
You may wonder how we Chinese learn Chinese. It is by repetition and memory.
I learned Chinese when I was about six, all by memory, copying and writing characters onto my exercise books. After several years, (
6 ~ 7 years in my case), I was reasonably proficient in recognizing all Chinese characters, and was able to read newspaper, etc. But you should know that only 1000 ~ 2000 of all the characters are used in everyday life, therefore it is not difficult to remember the meaning of them all.
The Egyptian Writing System
The Egyptians also started with "ideograms" (They are called "hieroglyphs", or "glyphs" for short). There are hundreds, if not thousands, of such "glyphs".
However, they did not give individual sound to every "glyph" invented, but they used the sounds already known. For example, "bright, enlighten" would be pronounced as "sun-moon", had they done that in China.
Therefore, they had a set of "consonants", and perhaps, a few "vowels".
They soon discovered that it was much easier, and more convenient to combine the "consonants, vowels" to mean different things than constantly inventing glyphs. Moreover, this made learning the language, writing the language, much more easier for the average people.
Hieroglyphic reading, writing could only be done by a few scribes (after years of training), but alphabets may be learned by the majority.
Hence they changed their writing system, from "hieroglyphic to alphabetic".
And they changed their writing system, improving upon it still further. The Egyptian writing had changed twice from the hieroglyphs onto the language they use today.
(Hieroglyph -> Demotic script -> Coptic script) But then they forgot what the "hieroglyphs" meant !
It was not until after the discovery of Rosetta Stone, which had three writings (a) Hieroglyphs (b) Immediate Egyptian, or "Demotic" script (c) Greek, all meaning the same thing, that the West were able to decipher the Hieroglyphs.
The Hebrew Writing System
The old Hebrew were Hieroglyphic too, and Hebrew had undergone the same change as that of Egyptian hieroglyphs.
Too, the Israelites today could not read ancient Hebrew Hieroglyphs. (Note : I don't know if they have books written in Hebrew Hieroglyph. Perhaps, the Hebrew Hieroglyph is lost today.)
The Hebrew language today is highly mathematical and logical, (Click to read Online Hebrew Tutorial), therefore it can be surmised that the Hebrew Hieroglyphs were highly mathematical and logical in their construction.
Ancient Writing System since Adam, the first man created.
What was the writing system Adam, Cain, Abel, Seth, ..., Noah, Shem, Ham, Japheth, ... used ?
We do not know what writing system those ancient people used. One thing is certain, they had some form of writing system, had they not, there would not have been Books of Enoch as we know them today. But we have Book of Enoch (1), Book of Enoch (2), and we know that Enoch was before Noah, before the flood.
What writing system was used for the Books of Enoch, and similar ancient books ? My conjecture is that some form of Hieroglyphs (ideograms), because all languages of the world developed from one sort of hieroglyph or another, and therefore THE language before Babel must be hieroglyphic (before Babel, there was only one language throughout the world).
One author in Book of Mormon said that they wrote in "reformed Egyptian", that is to say, they used some form of "ideograms" like that of Egyptian Hieroglyphs, but "reformed" (a better hieroglyphic system ?)
[Mormon 9:32-33, Book of Mormon]
And now, behold, we have written this record according to our knowledge, in the characters which are called among us the reformed Egyptian, being handed down and altered by us, according to our manner of speech.
And if our plates had been sufficiently large we should have written in Hebrew; but the Hebrew hath been altered by us also; and if we could have written in Hebrew, behold, ye would have had no imperfection in our record.
What writing system was used in the Mayan plates ?
(If you haven't read the Book of Mormon, what I write here would be un-intelligible to you.)
They said that they wrote in "reformed Egyptian", a writing system "handed down" to them. But careful examination shows that Maya hieroglyphs and Egyptian hieroglyphs differ greatly, though they are both glyphs. Hence it should be some ancient "hieroglyphic" system, a system better than the Egyptian system.
Before Lehi left Jerusalem, his son Nephi got "the gold/brass plates" from Laban, which consisted of the prophet books of Israel (including the Five Books of Moses, the Book of Isaiah, and part of the Book of Jeremiah, and other prophet books not found in Old Testament, Bible. They were carved onto gold/brass plates for permanence), as well as the genealogy of the tribe of Joseph.
The question is : what writing system was used in those plates ? Because the plates contained the prophets books of old, books written since Adam, Noah .... therefore my conjecture is that they were in "Hebrew Hieroglyphs", and "Hebrew Hieroglyph" is the unique language before Babel.
You should know that "priests of Pharaoh" wrote in "Egyptian Hieroglyphs", therefore, it is of no surprise that "priests of Israel" wrote in "Hebrew Hieroglyphs", in the earliest times.
Lehi and his sons (Nephi, Jacob, Enos, Jarom, ....) continued to write down their history onto brass/gold plates, and most probably, they used the "Hebrew Hieroglyphs" that were used in the "plates of prophet books of old", the plates they obtained from Laban.
MY CONCLUSION :MAYA HIEROGLYPH
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THEREFORE WE SHOULD STUDY HEBREW, IN ORDER TO MAKE EDUCATED GUESS ABOUT MAYA HIEROGLYPH WHICH ARE IN FACT HEBREW HIEROGLYPH. |
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Main Features of the Hebrew Language, hence the main features of Maya Hieroglyphs
- Hebrew is written from RIGHT to LEFT, (NOT LEFT to RIGHT), and top to bottom.
- It is centered around VERB, and a VERB may be one or two words (thus a verb may be one or two glyphs).
- Adding a symbol at the end will change that VERB into a noun,
dance -> dancer
translate -> translator
.....But for "abstract noun" (e.g. love (verb) -> love (noun)), there is a different symbol for it.
Notice that this usage includes the use of "gerund", e.g. killing, throwing, eating, drinking, ....
- There are symbols for "masculine" and "feminine".
dance -> dancer -> male dancer
dance -> dancer -> female dancer
translate -> translator -> male translator
translate -> translator -> female translator
.....Therefore we have one glyph for the verb "dance", one symbol attached to this glyph (at the right side ? top side ?) to change it into a "noun, dancer", another symbol attached to it (left side? bottom side?) to denote a "male dancer" or "female dancer".
- There are symbols for "singular" and for "plural", as well as for "dual, which is two"
dance -> dancer -> dancers, or two dancers
translate -> translator -> translators, or two translators
.....Because these symbols are written as suffix in Hebrew, therefore in glyphs, these symbols would probably be on the left side, on at the bottom. (Symbols may be added to the four sides of a glyph -- top, bottom, right, left. Prefixes in Hebrew would probably be on the top, or right side of glyph, I think.)
- There are symbols to denote the tense of a "verb"
- Present
- Past
- Future
- Imperative (command, or order, e.g. pick this up!)
- Present
- There are the following prepositions, (one symbol for one group of prepositions, therefore the same symbol may have more than one uses.)
- in, at, with
- as, like, according to
- to, at, for, towards,
The above three are "inseparable prepositions", in the sense that they are never separated from the nouns. The following preposition each takes up one symbol,
- under, instead of
- except
- from, out from
- between
- with
- until, during
- against, opposite, before
- upon, against, over
- to, towards, for
- opposite, facing, before
- of
- with (don't confuse with the sign of definite accusative.)
- beside, near, at, with
- as, like, according to
- after, behind
- without
- before, in front of
- There is a special symbol for "ward",
e.g. home -> homeward; south -> southward.
- There are symbols for "active, passive, reflexive, ..."
- simple active
- simple passive
- intensive active -- the effort of that verb is intensified,
e.g. hit -> hit very hard
- intensive passive
- reflexive
- causative active
- causative passive
- Hebrew have the following pronouns,
I singular masculine or feminine you singular masculine you singular feminine he singular masculine she singular feminine we plural masculine or feminine you plural masculine you plural feminine they plural masculine they plural feminine me singular masculine or feminine you singular masculine you singular feminine you plural masculine you plural feminine them plural masculine them plural feminine us plural masculine or feminine this singular masculine this singular feminine these plural masculine or feminine that singular masculine that singular feminine those plural masculine those plural feminine Example : these female dancers
Therefore there is a high possibility that there is one glyph for each pronoun, and that glyph may be on the top, bottom, left, right, or stand-alone (?)
- The word "very" has a special place in Hebrew language.
- There is a symbol for question mark. Also the definite article "the" before a pronoun serves the same, e.g. "this ?"
- There is a symbol for "conjunction - AND".
- .....
In short, we have to study the modern Hebrew in order to guess as to the ways the Hebrew Hieroglyphs, or Maya hieroglyphs, were formed.
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Use Reverse Engineering
Since we know that the Book of Mormon was translated from Maya Hieroglyphs, we may use the book of Mormon to guess the verbs, adverbs, nouns, pronouns, ... in the Maya glyphs.
For example, the first paragraph of Book of Mormon reads as follows,
[1 Nephi 1:1, Book of Mormon]I, NEPHI, having been born of goodly parents, therefore I was taught somewhat in all the learning of my father; and having seen many afflictions in the course of my days, nevertheless, having been highly favored of the Lord in all my days; yea, having had a great knowledge of the goodness and the mysteries of God, therefore I make a record of my proceedings in my days. |
There is a possibility that just one glyph (or two glyphs), with symbols added at the top, on the right side, on the left side, at the bottom, to mean all the following things,
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Hence using the Book of Mormon as a guide, we may figure out the symbols found in Maya glyphs.
The above are my thinking, it may be wrong. But even if it is right, we still have a long way to go.
Try to invent a hieroglyphic language of our own, which is highly logical and mathematical like that of Hebrew
English is not logical in its constructs, e.g. "see, saw, seen"; "plural" not just by adding "s" to the "singular".
Hebrew is logical; and most probably, its fore-runner, the Hebrew Hieroglyph, is logical.
In order to understand Maya glyphs, we may invent a logical, mathematical, hieroglyphic system of our own. In the process of doing this, we may gain insight into the thinking of the persons who invented the Hebrew Hieroglyphs, ( = Maya hieroglyphs), the fore-runner of the modern day Hebrew. And we may guess more correctly the usage of Maya glyphs.
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Collected Effort is necessary
If you are interested in this, and if you have found something, I hope you would publish it in my FORUM,
http://pub34.bravenet.com/forum/show.php?usernum=2858683854&cpv=1
I firmly believe that collected effort is necessary to fully decipher hieroglyphs, whatever that hieroglyphs may be.
References
- How to read Egyptian Hieroglyphs, a step-by-step Guide to teach yourself By Mark Collier, Bill Manley
Comparing the Maya hieroglyphs to that of Egyptian Hieroglyphs, we should know that they share nothing other than that they are both glyphs. - Link to a site where you may find a quick introduction to Maya Hieroglyphs
- Linda Schele has written many books,
- The Code of Kings : The Language of Seven Sacred Maya Temples and Tombs by Linda Schele and Peter Mathews, with Justin Kerr and MacDuff Everton 1998
- Maya Cosmos : Three Thousand Years on the Shaman's Path by David Friedel, Linda Schele, and Joy Parker 1995
- The Blood of Kings : Dynasty and Ritual in Maya Art by Linda Schele and Mary Ellen Miller with Justin Kerr 1992
- A Forest of Kings : The Untold Story of the Ancient Maya by Linda Schele and David Freidel 1992
- The Mirror, the Rabbit, and the Bundle : Accession' Expressions from the Classic Maya Inscriptions by Linda Schele 1983
- Maya Glyphs : The Verbs by Linda Schele 1982
- The Bodega of Palenque, Chiapas Mexico by Linda Schele 1978
Please note that I haven't read the above books (I long to read them ! especially "Maya Glyphs : The Verbs", but my situation today does not favour me to work in this direction, so I am waiting for one day that I may read them) but I think they are valuable books. I know of Linda Schele from an email I received, after sending emails to many telling them my thought "Maya Hieroglyph = Hebrew Hieroglyph of old now lost".
- The Code of Kings : The Language of Seven Sacred Maya Temples and Tombs by Linda Schele and Peter Mathews, with Justin Kerr and MacDuff Everton 1998
The above database only shows a few glyphs at a time, therefore I have written a webpage that shows all the glyphs at once. Because there are more than 1000 Maya glyphs, it will download very slowly, so be patient. After all the glyphs have been downloaded, I suggest you save it (e.g. in Microsoft's Internet Explorer, you click
"FILE -> SAVE AS" to save that webpage) on your hard disk for latter OFFLINE use.Vine's Expository Dictionary of Biblical Words
is a good book to learn Hebrew words.Strong Number to Hebrew and English
It is interesting to enter a "Strong Number", and see the corresponding Hebrew word with English Explanation. I experimented by entering numbers 1, 2, 3, ..... and found it very informative in learning the formation of Hebrew words.
The work of John Montgomery
After writing this webpage, and on further search on the Internet, I find a webpage containing a Maya Dictionary by John Montgomery,
http://www.famsi.org/montgomery/dictionary/search.html
where we may input an English word, then a webpage containing links to those glyphs (if there is a Maya glyph) will appear. On clicking the link, we will see the glyph.
The following webpage contains more, e.g. it contains the books written by John Montgomery,
http://www.famsi.org/mayawriting/mayawriting.htm
Ancient Hebrew
Ancient Hebrew is an intermediate step from Hebrew Hieroglyph, just as Egyptian Hieroglyph has 2 intermediate stages (demotic script, and coptic script), so there are two intermediate stages for Hebrew Hieroglyph -- ancient Hebrew and present day Hebrew.
The "Ancient Hebrew" website is very useful.
http://www.ancient-hebrew.org/OR, its site map
http://www.ancient-hebrew.org/1_map.html
Among all the webpages in the site, I would single out Chapter 4,
http://www.ancient-hebrew.org/2_chapter4.html
because it is my opinion that the 22 Hebrew root glyphs are also the root glyphs for the Maya Hieroglyphs.
Lastly, it is also my view that one has to be thorougly familiar with the Hebrew language of today (ability to read/write/speak present day Hebrew) to be able to decipher Maya Hieroglyph fully.
If you are interested in this, or if you have talents in language, or if you are Jew already, I hope you would join effort in this, and publish your findings in my FORUM,
http://pub34.bravenet.com/forum/show.php?usernum=2858683854&cpv=1
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