On Tro. 34*c two individuals are engaged in some work which we might suppose to be weaving but for the fact that there is no cord or thread to be seen. Over each is the character shown in plate LXVIII, 38. This is evidently an incomplete _manik_ symbol. As the supposed aspirate sign is present, it is probable that _hooch_, "to pare off, to scrape," or _hoochci_, "to pare off, or scrape the hennequin," will furnish an appropriate rendering.
Maya, _lamat_; Tzental, _lambat_; Quiche-Cakchiquel, _canel_ or _kanel_; Zapotec, _lapa_ or _laba_; Nahuatl, _tochtli_.
The various forms of the symbol of this day are shown in plates LXV, 33 to 37, and LXVIII, 39-40. That given by Landa is seen in LXV, 33; it is also found very frequently in the codices as LXV, 34. The three other forms found in the codices are shown in LXV, 35, 36, 37. The form on the Palenque Tablet is given in LXVIII, 40; that of the Tikal inscription is similar to Landa's figure, if we are correct in our determination, of which there is some doubt, as the dots are effaced.
A comparison of plate LXV, 36, with the symbol of the day _Ahau_, shown in LXVIII, 5, leads at once to the impression that the former was derived from the latter, and that, if in any sense phonetic, the equivalents of the two are closely related. As will be shown hereafter, the _Ahau_ symbol has _l_ as its chief phonetic element, if it be considered in any sense phonetic. We should therefore expect to find, in the verbal equivalent of this _Lamat_ symbol, _l_ as a prominent element. In the form shown at LXV, 33, it would seem that we see an effort to intimate by the character itself the presence of the _b_ element. That the symbol shown in plate LXV, 38, has _b_ as its chief element is shown elsewhere. It is possible, therefore, that this _Lamat_ symbol had no original signification purely its own, but that it is a composite derived from the _Ahau_, and what I have termed the _b_ symbol. Without anticipating the proof that the _Ahau_ symbol has _l_ as its chief phonetic element, I call attention to the fact that it is the upper character in the symbol for _likin_, "east" (plate LXVIII, 12). As the lower character is the well-known symbol for _kin_, "day" or "sun," we must assume that the value of our _Ahau_, in this case at least, is _li_. As another suggestion, I would add that it may have been derived from a figure used in some game. As the figure is usually divided into apartments or cells, most of which inclose a dot, the Maya word _lem_, _lemah_, "meter, encajar, poner dentro, introducir" (Perez), would not inappropriately express the idea. Its use as a day symbol would then be simply for its phonetic value. This is based, of course, on the derivation. I suggest below. Nevertheless it must be admitted that these are but mere guesses.