Pusb'al Chaaj

El topónimo k'iche' Pusb'al Chaaj refiere a los sacrificios hechos a lo largo del juego de pelota. Ha interpretado en diversas maneras a lo largo del tiempo, conforme a la complejidad del tema y lo poco que sabemos hoy en día de la tradición mesoamericana del juego de pelota. La primera traducción al español es la del padre dominico Francisco de Ximénez, quien escribe "donde echaban la zeniza." El lingüista k'iche' Sam Colop (2008: 71n101) afirma que la expresión k'iche' se forma a base de dos palabras precisas: "Pusbal quiere decir 'lugar del sacrificio,' y chaaj 'juego de pelota.'" Por lo tanto el investigador k'iche' escribe "lugar de sacrificio" en su traducción española. El antropólogo Dennis Tedlock (1996: 352) interpreta el lugar en la misma manera. En cambio, el antropólogo Allen J. Christenson (2007: 125-126n270) lo interpreta como "lugar de trituración" (puk'b'al) una expresión que podría referirse a la molienda de los huesos del cuerpo en un acto de sacrificio, los polvos generados durante el juego o la miseria de perder el juego. También sugiere que pusbal (sacrificio) se puede confundir fácilmente con puk'b'al, y que el topónimo puede ser ya otro caso en el que los sabios mayas juegan con la palabra.

The K'iche' toponym that refers to the sacrificial ballcourt, Pusb'al Chaaj, has been translated in different ways by scholars. Anthropologist Allen J. Christenson (2007) has "Crushing Ballcourt," anthropologist Dennis Tedlock (1996: 352) renders it as "Place of Ball Game Sacrifice," K'iche' linguist Sam Colop (2008: 71n101) agrees with Tedlock and reads it as "Place of Sacrifice." The earliest Spanish translation by father Francisco de Ximénez is "where ashes are scattered," although he preserves the K'iche' toponym in the K'iche'-language column of the mauscript. Christenson (2007: 125–126n270) explains the difficulty of interpreting the key terms of the place name. He writes, "The root verb for puk'b'al has a variety of possible interpretations. It may mean to crush, to grind to a very fine consistency, to kick up dust, to sift, to beat, to spill, to spread about, to scatter, to disentangle, or to card wool. Puk'b'al may thus refer to the dustiness of the ballcourt or the tendency to kick up dust during vigorous play. It may also imply that this ballcourt is where opponents are 'ground down, beaten, or sifted.' This latter inteprretation is intriguing, beause 'to crush' s often used in the text to refer to the destruction or violent death of people. Father Coto notes that a synonymous word for 'to crush,' k'ajb'ik, refers specifically to human sacrifice, which is the likely implication here as well. It is also possible that this word should be read as pukb'al, which also has a variety of meanings depending on context. It means literally 'to fall from overripeness or decay (fruit, flowers, teeth), or to be plucked out (hair, feathers).' Metaphorically the word when applied to humans means 'crestfallen, melancholy, disdained, comtemptible, or scorned.' In this case such an interpretation may refer to the humiliation and misery of those who lose in the ballcourt. Both interpretations may apply here considering the Maya's fondness for plays on words and puns. Alternatively, the word may be a scribal error for puzbal (place of sacrifice), a reading whcih fits the context of this passage well."