ma (Mdz29r)

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 the original compound hieroglyph from which this hand was carved, the hand is holding onto a leaf of a plant, as though it is going to take the leaf, so the reading could be ma, a verb, for "to take" or "to capture." But the hand itself brings the same reading—"ma"—as the stem of maitl, so the two readings reinforce each other. It is not very unusual to see "a" for "e" in various Nahuatl words.