Disputatio:Calendarium Mayense

Version as of Aug20,2017

LA

Calendarium Mayense est ratio dierum fastorum gentium Mayarum qui in usu quinque saecula est, ab aetate America praecolumbiana appellata usque hodie in variis pagis Mayensibus in montibus Guatimaliae, et Veracruz, Oaxaca, et Chiapas in Mexico et aliis regionibus Mesoamericae.

Latissimus in usu est Tzolk'in dies fastus, qui 260 dies habet. Secundus dies fastus est Haab, qui est dies<--?--> solaris et 365 dies habet. Tertius est Longa numerata?.

EN

The Mayan calendar is a system of calendars of the Mayan people in use since the 5th century BC

Ah, so that's what was meant! The original phrasing, quinque saecula = 'for five centuries'. If you want '(still) in use since the 5th century BC', that's ex saeculo quinto a.C.n. IacobusAmor (disputatio) 16:24, 20 Augusti 2017 (UTC)

from the American age called Precolombian up to today in various villages in the mountains of Guatemala and Veracruz, Oaxaca, and Chiapas in Mexico and other countries of Mesoamerica. The most widely used is Tzolk'in calendar which has 260 days. The second is the Haab which has solar days and 365 days. The third is the 'long count'.--Jondel (disputatio) 14:53, 20 Augusti 2017 (UTC)

What I didn't (and still don't) understand

"Dies fastus" is a business day, as opposed to a holiday. How the "Tzolk'in business day" could have 260 days was a major component of what I didn't understand.

From the above, it looks as though someone thought "business day" is the same thing as "calendar".

Now, there are (mainly) two things in the English that read like nonsense

If the Ha'ab "has solar days and 365 days", what are solar days? How do things differ if you don't have solar days? What kind of days does the Tzolk'in calendar have?

What is the 'long count'? How does the 'long count' differ from what the Tzolk'in and Ha'ab calendars have? Andrew Dalby (disputatio) 15:02, 20 Augusti 2017 (UTC)

The long count is a Mayan calendrical system. IacobusAmor (disputatio) 16:20, 20 Augusti 2017 (UTC)

Well, OK, Iacobe, I admit I sort of knew that, I just felt that mentioning it without any explanation, and without any evident relevance to the other two systems, didn't add up to clear exposition. Andrew Dalby (disputatio) 18:38, 20 Augusti 2017 (UTC)

It's not clear to me (yet) that that English text is written by someone who understands these things and is able to explain them in English. Andrew Dalby (disputatio) 15:02, 20 Augusti 2017 (UTC)

Well, I took a college course touching on these issues (back in the day when experts were still arguing about how to correlate the long count with the Gregorian calendar), but sadly have no time to fix the text. IacobusAmor (disputatio) 16:30, 20 Augusti 2017 (UTC)

I selected parts from the English wiki. Sorry about the 'business day/Dies fastus'. I'm not sure about how they made the calendars. I will attemp to fix this again. --Jondel (disputatio) 15:22, 20 Augusti 2017 (UTC)

I am thinking of replacing the third line with the Latin version of this:

The Maya calendar consists of several cycles or counts of different lengths. The 260-day count is known to scholars as the Tzolkin, or Tzolk'in.[5] The Tzolkin was combined with a 365-day vague solar year known as the Haab' to form a synchronized cycle lasting for 52 Haab', called the Calendar Round. The Calendar Round is still in use by many groups in the Guatemalan highlands.
--Jondel (disputatio) 15:30, 20 Augusti 2017 (UTC)

That certainly helps, because it shows a relation among the three. Andrew Dalby (disputatio) 18:41, 20 Augusti 2017 (UTC)