From: matt@smoke.brl.mil (Matthew Rosenblatt)
Newsgroups: sci.classics
Subject: Re: quincunx, what does it mean
Keywords: Thompson's Glyph 585
Date: 12 Nov 92 21:36:01 GMT
Organization: U.S. Army Ballistic Research Lab, APG MD.

In article <berck.721563121@cs.rulimburg.nl> berck@cs.rulimburg.nl 
(Peter Berck) writes:

>This is probable not the right newsgroup (sorry) but what does
>Quincunx mean (as in the book by C. Palliser).   [Peter Berck]

Sure, it's the right newsgroup!  The Quincunx hieroglyphic can be
found in inscriptions of the Mayan "Classic Period," so "sci.classics"
is appropriate.

In _A Catalog of Maya Hieroglyphs_ (Norman, Oklahoma: University 
of Oklahoma Press, 1962, pages 209-213), the great Mayanist,
Sir J. Eric S. Thompson, lists 169 examples of the Quincunx
hieroglyph, which he enumerates as Glyph 585 in his system.  
It is the same glyph as Gates's Glyph 311 and Zimmermann's 
Glyph 1343, and has three forms: a, b, and c.

Form 585a of Quincunx looks like this:

                           ---------
                          | o     o |
                          |    O    |
                          | o     o |
                           ---------

The essence of a quincunx is an arrangement of five things
with one at each corner of a square and one in the middle
of the square.  Thompson's Form 585b has the three curved
lines of the Imix glyph (501) at the bottom, and a curve 
reminiscent of the Kan ("Maize") glyphs (506 and 507) or
the Sky glyphs (561a-g) (but with the curve upside-down) 
at the top, with the five-dot arrangement in the center.  
Form 586c has the five dots in the lower right-hand portion
of the glyph, with a simple concave-down curve above and
three scallops (resembling Glyph 505, an Akbal turned on 
its side) to the left; Professor Thompson tells us that 
Form 586c is the form found at Piedras Negras.
 
Professor Thompson comments:

   "The rarity of this glyph in the eastern part of the 
  Maya area is worth noting when it is remembered that
  Glyph 585 is found in the hieroglyphic writing or the
  symbolism of other cultures (e.g., the Zapotec Glyph E
  in the Caso enumeration).  It seems to be distinct in
  its functions and affixes from the Kan cross [Glyph 281],
  which it closely resembles.  It has no connection with
  Glyph 510 (Venus Lamat). . . .
   "The compound with Ben Ich and water (168 and 301) 
  prefixes and the unusual 300 infix frequently follows
  the glyph of the god of number seven.  The Palenque
  compounds usually follow a C.R. [Calendar Round] or
  appear to be connected with Cauac.  At Piedras Negras,
  too, there may be a Cauac association.  No pattern in
  the usage of the glyph in the codices is immediately
  apparent. . . ."

>Etymology?   [Peter Berck]

According to _Webster's Third New International Dictionary of 
the English Language_, the word "quincunx" comes directly 
from the Latin, where it literally means, "five twelfths," from 
_quinque_ = "five" and _uncia_ = "twelfth part, ounce."

There is also another meaning of "quincunx" that has to do with
how cultivated plants are arranged in a field.  For that meaning,
Mr. Berck can ask other newsgroups than "sci.classics."

Hope this helps.

					-- Matt Rosenblatt
                                        (matt@amsaa.brl.mil)

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