maitl (Mdz12r)

The hand, with the phonetic value of "ma," could be considered part of the mapachin construction, and it serves as a phonetic clue to that word. A mapachin, raccoon, is considered a thief, and the name mapachin therefore also takes on the meaning of thief. Since a thief is one who takes or steals, the hand in the original compound can double as the verb ma (take, capture). In the original compound, the hand is reaching to take a tapachtli, a piece of coral (see below, right). So, there is the syllable "pach," once again. According to Gordon Whittaker, we should pay attention to the upright hand without an arm attached versus the more horizontal or diagonal arm, which can have readings other than maitl), such as the "ma" of capture, "ana" of grab, or "poloa" of destroy. (Deciphering Aztec Hieroglyphs, 2021, 104) In this case, we do have an upright hand without an attached arm, and it is still trying to take something.