[225-1] Dr Brinton (Primer, p. 117) errs in regarding the superfix to this glyph as the kin or sun symbol.
[227-1] Dr Brinton (Primer, p. 110) says the object represented by this symbol is “a polished stone, shell pendant, or bead.” This authority considers the dot or eye in the upper part as a perforation by which it was strung on a cord. If this be true, it is strange that we see them nowhere in the codices strung on strings, though necklaces are frequently represented; and that we do see them piled up in vessels, see them putting forth shoots and leaves, and see birds and quadrupeds devouring thorn. Dr Brinton himself (p. 123, E. No. 29) gives one of these sprouting kan symbols, which he says “is a picture of the maize plant from Cod. Tro., p. 29.” That it is not used ikonomatically here is evident, as kan in Maya is not a name for maize or grain of maize.
[232-1] First Ann. Rep. Bur. Ethn., p. 386.
[232-2] Dr Brinton (Primer, p. 65) says: “Former students have been unable to explain this design” and suggests that it is a maggot.
[232-3] Brinton follows Brasseur in supposing it represents the “grasping hand,” and thinks it is a rebus of mach, “asir, tomar con los manos.”
[236-1] Page 66.
[237-1] Notwithstanding his definition given above, Dr Brinton suggests in his late work that the symbols of the day bear a close resemblance to some of the sun signs.
[238-1] For explanation of the inclosed comb-like characters, Landa’s ca, see Sixth Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology, page 355.
[239-1] Brinton thinks that in some of the forms it indicates “a trail” or “footprints,” which are meanings of oc.
[240-1] I was not aware that oc had the signification “dog” in any of the Mayan languages, nor do I find that Seler or Brinton appeal to this fact in their efforts to explain the day name in the Maya calendar. However, Dr Brinton remarks that Brasseur and Seler think that some forms of the symbol “portray the ears of a dog, as in some of the Mayan dialects the dog is called oc.”