Ke'ema (gen. 10)

Regarding the ruler of the tenth generation of the Nija'ib', Ximénez originally writes "Queema" as the name (53r), and later changes it to "Quema" (56r). It is unclear whether this change represents a scribal error or a better understanding of how the K'iche' name ought to have been sounded in the Spanish transcription. The word kema translates as "loom," according to Christenson (2007: 283n876). Although weaving is women's work, and the communication of messages through colors and patterns is a feminine mode of meaning-making, Lord Keema is classified as a male figure in the text: "Quema, as he is called now, was the tenth generation." On indigenous women's literacies, see Susan Kellog, Weaving the Past.

Sobre el líder de la décima generación del linaje Nija'ib', el lingüista k'iche' Sam Colop (2008: 216n398) observa la discrepancia entre la ortografía del nombre del señor principal en los folios 53r y 56r, pues el fraile Ximénez escribe "Queema" y "Quema." El destacado traductor también apunta que el nombre "antes se tradujo como 'tejido'". Sobre la historia de la labor y saber femenino en los tejidos mayas, véase por ejemplo Susan Kellog, Weaving the Past.