Maya, Mayas, or Mayan?
Many people misuse these three terms, assuming that “Maya” is a singular noun, “Mayas” a plural noun, and “Mayan” an adjective.
We at Yucatan Today have been guilty of this mistake more than once over time, but now that we have learned the correct protocol we are changing our magazine and website wherever possible.
The word Maya
The fact is, the word “Maya” should be used in all three of the above situations. Here are some specific examples showing correct usage:
As a singular noun: He is (a) Maya.
As a plural noun: They are Maya.
As an adjective: Maya astronomy, Maya calendar, Maya civilization, Maya clothing, Maya culture, Maya folklore, Maya food, Maya glyphs, Maya hairstyle, Maya heritage, Maya hieroglyphs, Maya pyramids, Maya religion, Maya ritual, Maya warfare.
The name of the spoken language: this is a little bit more complicated. “Mayan” refers to the family of 29 to 32 languages spoken by the Maya. However, there is one exception to this: according to The Open School of Ethnography and Anthropology, “The use of these words suddenly gets complicated…There is one Mayan language whose proper name is “Maya”! The native speakers of Yucatec Maya call their language Maya. Maya is the correct proper name of the language that they speak.”
Yucatán Today will use Maya
So, at Yucatan Today, because we are usually referring to Yucatec Maya when we refer to the language spoken here, we will continue to call this language “Maya”.
More information: osea-cite.org/program/maya_or_mayans.php
Editorial by Yucatán Today
Photography by Oscar Góngora for use in Yucatán Today
Esta entrada también está disponible en: ES
BRAVO!
nice correction, confession, clarification!!!
Just think, in Spanish, no one refers to those Indigenous peoples as “Yucatec Maya” — they call them not be this quasi scientific museum label, but by their actual name, their proper name, Maya! No one in Mexico gets confused. Imagine a Mexican asking, “Where do the Maya live?” Answer: ” in Yucatan…” reply: “oh but are there not Maya in Chiapas?” Answer: ” Yes, but their names are Tzotzil, Tzeltal, Chol.. etc. and they identify by the name of the municipio/town to which they belong.. So no confusion!.” In Guatemala, the word Maya is used as the umbrella ethnic-racial identity of ALL the Maya peoples even though they first identity by the name of their town/region and their Mayan language; then as Maya. So, no confusion there either!
Mayan is NEVER correctly used as an adjective unless in reference to a language– the Mayan language family, one of the Mayan language families, or to the origin-source language of all 32 Mayan languages.
How about when referring to the forests in the Yucatan? Maya forest vs. Mayan forest? As a translation for La Selva Maya.
Hi Juan, the correct way to say it will be the Maya forest. ¡Saludos!
It’s never been the Naya nor Mayan Riviera but rather the Riviera Maya
Thanks for this important clarification. So, Mayan Riviera is gone to be replaced by Maya Riviera? But true, it was always confusing for me to see that people use Maya or Mayan in the same context. And finally I did the same. Now I will review all my text workwork and change it accordingly to these rules.