Question

What do scholars mean when they say Maya and Mayan

Answer 1

We notice about Maya culture when we read about them in history books. Scholars use the words 'Mayan' and 'Maya'. The word 'Mayan' is often misused in English, sometimes by anthropologists.The word 'Mayan' is not correctly used as an adjective to name the cultural objects such as calendar, civilization, society, people etc that are associated with Maya people, culture or civilization. The word 'Maya' is a noun but also an adjective, that is a qualifier, and is used to name things that belong to Maya culture.'Maya' is the correct word to use as the adjective in noun phrases such as : Maya civilization, Maya calendar, Maya astronomy, Maya pyramids, Maya religion, Maya heritage, Maya ritual etc. The word 'Mayan' is mostly or always used (instead of Maya) to refer to the languages that Maya people used to speak.So, when the scholars use the word 'Maya' and 'Mayan', they mean that 'Maya' is being usedas a noun and also as an adjective, such as Maya culture, Maya civilization, Mayacalendar etc and 'Mayan' is always referred to the languages of Maya people.