Subject: Re: [lojban] month names

From: Ivan A Derzhanski <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 31 Oct 2000 10:54:05 +0200

John Cowan wrote:
> [email-masked] wrote:
> > (I seem to recall the Aztecs or the Mayans had a system
> > with both plant and animal names: "4 Cane" and "5 Jaguar"
> > stick in my mind as important for something or other).
> 
> Mayan.

Both, actually. Only the Aztec (ie Nahuatl) names are usually
translated when referred to in English or other European languages,
whereas the Mayan ones are more often left as they are, perhaps
because they are shorter and look less exotic.

> We used to think that this system was also used for Mayan
> personal names (i.e. people were named after their birthdays),
> but IIRC this is no longer believed.

But surely the evidence of people having dates (ie names of days)
as names is still there. What is no longer believed? That those
days are their birthdays?

--Ivan