The Ancient Maya App now has an English/Maya dictionary! It includes over 600 entries the Introduction to Maya Hieroglyphs by Harri Kettunen (from the University of Helsinki) and Christophe Helmke (from the University of Copenhagen). Specifically, the app 2.2 contains over 600 phonetic entries from pages 88 to 122. It’s free and available on both iOS and Android.
The dictionary is integrated into the Decode Glyph Block feature. Each time the user identifies an individual the glyphs image and its definition is displayed at the top of the screen. The app automatically searches for a matching in the transliteration field of the dictionary. Here’s a screenshot showing the feature. The user identified three individual glyphs from a glyph block. Combined, these glyphs record the sounds “o-to-ti”. Notice that the app displayed the English translation (or more technically, the gloss) as “house (home, dwelling)”.
To see more information from the dictionary entry simply click on the definition.
For more details, you can see it in action in a short demo video on YouTube.
Note that the Decode Glyph Block feature is built with 600 glyphs from Beginner’s Visual Catalog of Maya Hieroglyphs by Alexandre Tokovinine (University of Alabama). The Ancient Maya App has integrated and crossed referenced data from two of the most popular resources on ancient Maya writing. We create technology and collaborate with experts so more people appreciate ancient Maya civilization.
As with any new feature, there are some limitation. You can’t yet scroll through dictionary entries or search them. That would be useful and it will be in a future release of the app. Currently the app only includes the phonetic dictionary entries. It lacks the logograms from 79 to 87 of Introduction to Maya Hieroglyphs. Again, that would be useful and it will be in a future release.