The 2-letter suffixes of the Bonn codes
Author: Sim Lee
Last updated: 2024-10-23
[This document is part of the Learner's Maya Glyph Guide.]
The Bonn codes are six characters long – the first four are digits, followed by a 2-letter suffix. The four digits (with padded 0’s on the left for numbers smaller than 1000) are often related to the equivalent Thompson number, e.g. Bonn’s 0751st is the head of a jaguar, read BAHLAM, and corresponds to T751a and T751b. However, whereas the 1-letter suffix in Thompson can be quite arbitrary (showing quite different variants or very similar variants in different positions and orientations), the Bonn 2-letter suffix holds a lot of information and meaning.
The table below shows the meaning of these 2-letter suffixes. They are first shown ordered purely alphabetically, for ease of finding them, and later ordered by “function”, i.e. reflecting the “motivation” behind their assignment (in increasing order of graphical complexity).
Ordered alphabetically (coloured abbreviations are less obvious), summarized from Prager, Christian M. and Sven Gronemeyer. "Neue Ergebnisse in der Erforschung der Graphemik und Graphetik des Klassischen Maya." (2018): 135-181 (in particular, the tables on p159-168.pdfp25-34).
|
Suffix |
Meaning |
|
Suffix |
Meaning |
|
-bb |
Bipartite bottom |
|
-st |
Standard |
|
-bh |
Bipartite horizontal |
|
|
|
|
-bl |
Bipartite left |
|
-ta |
Tripartite top-centre |
|
-br |
Bipartite right |
|
-tb |
Tripartite bottom |
|
-bt |
Bipartite top |
|
-tc |
Tripartite centre |
|
-bv |
Bipartite vertical |
|
-td |
Tripartite middle-right |
|
|
|
|
-tf |
Tripartite frame |
|
-dh |
Division (bipartite/tripartite) half |
|
-th |
Tripartite horizontal |
|
-do |
Division (bipartite/tripartite) one-third |
|
-ti |
Tripartite centre-bottom |
|
-dt |
Division (bipartite/tripartite) two-third |
|
-tl |
Tripartite left |
|
|
|
|
-tm |
Tripartite middle |
|
-ex |
Extraction (pars pro toto) |
|
-tp |
Tripartite parenthesis |
|
|
|
|
-tr |
Tripartite right |
|
-fc |
Figure creature |
|
-ts |
Tripartite left-middle |
|
-fh |
Figure human |
|
-tt |
Tripartite top |
|
|
|
|
-tv |
Tripartite vertical |
|
-hc |
Head creature |
|
|
|
|
-hf |
Head (human) facial |
|
-va |
Variopartite top-centre |
|
-hh |
Head human |
|
-vb |
Variopartite bottom |
|
-hp |
Head creature parietal |
|
-vc |
Variopartite centre |
|
-hs |
Head (human) skullcap |
|
-vd |
Variopartite centre-right |
|
|
|
|
-vi |
Variopartite centre-bottom |
|
-md |
Multiplication double |
|
-vl |
Variopartite left |
|
-mp |
Multiplication partial |
|
-vr |
Variopartite right |
|
-mq |
Multiplication quadruple |
|
-vs |
Variopartite left-centre |
|
-mt |
Multiplication triple |
|
-vt |
Variopartite top |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Note: the suffix -ex is not listed in the tables, but discussed on p170.pdfp36.Abb24.label.
Bonn 2-letter suffixes – ordered by function:
Prager and Gronemeyer (ibid.p159.pdfp25.Abb11):
Prager and Gronemeyer (ibid.p161.pdfp27.Abb12):
Prager and Gronemeyer (ibid.p162.pdfp28.Abb14):
Prager and Gronemeyer (ibid.p165.pdfp31.Abb17):
Ibid.p168.pdfp34.Abb20:
