A Grammar of the Yucatecan Mayan Language
by David & Alejandra Bolles

NUMBERS AND NUMBER CLASSIFIERS

71.  The abstract numbers hun (one), ca (two), ox (three), can (four) and the interrogative hay (how many?) do not exist by themselves. They are always accompanied by a number classifier which indicates what variety of object is being talked about. The number classifier is suffixed to the number. The most common number classifiers are:

Examples:

Q:  Hayppel cħeen yan ti a cahal?   "How many wells are there in your town?"
A:  Chen humppel.   "Only one."

Q:  Haytul palaloob yan tech?   "How many children do you have?"
A:  Yan cantul caachi.   "There used to be four."

Q:  Hayten binech Ho?   "How many times have you gone to Mérida?"
A:  Oxten.   "Three times."

Other number classifiers still is use are:

There are some number classifiers which seem to be used only with the number hun (one):

As was noted in Section 7 the numbers in the Mayan language at this present time do not extend above can (four). For the numbers above can, or for some speakers above ox (three), the Spanish equivalents are used. Usually when a Spanish number is used the Spanish equivalent of the Mayan number classifier is used with it.

Occasionally Mayan numbers above can are used in rituals today, especially bolon (nine) and oxlahun (thirteen). As far as can be determined however, almost no one associates a numerical quantity with these numbers but rather a magical quality. The magical quality seems to be in keeping with the qualities associated with these numbers even at the time when the quantities which these numbers represented were understood.

72.  The colonial sources which were written by Mayan scribes are quite clear on how the Maya of the period used their number system. The system was vigesimal. The names for the various place holders acted like number classifiers. Some of these are:

Between the colonial sources and the various grammars on the Mayan language there is general agreement for those numbers through twenty:

According to the colonial sources at the number hunkal (20) the sequence begins again with the word catac (and) being the conjunctive which ties the number together:

hunkal catac hun
hunkal catac ca
hunkal catac ox
etc.

Examples:

hunkal catac uaxacppel haab:    "one score and eight years (28 years)"

cankal haab catac uaclahunpizi:    "four score years and sixteen measures (of years) (96 years)"

holahunkal haab catac cankal haab caixtac canppel haab:    "fifteen score years and four score years and also four years (384 years)"

There seems however to be quite a bit of confusion about how the number system functioned in the earlier grammar books, starting with Beltran, for the numbers above twenty. It is difficult to determine what the source of this confusion is. It seems though that what the grammar books have to say about the number system has little relevance to how the number system was employed by the Maya themselves.

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