3. This is an outline dictionary of rongorongo signs. It is not an encyclopedia and it is no more than a preliminary description of what the rongorongo texts are saying. What is important at this stage is not to give definite answers but to notice the signs and to formulate questions. Tahua is a difficult text with each glyph seemingly filled to the brim with small and hardly noticeable signs. We must advance slowly and with care. Straight vertical lines (2 of them in Aa8-25) could be 'threads of measurement'.
A prime example is inside the 'cartouche' at 'noon' in Ha6-3 and another forms the left side of tapa mea in Ha6-4:
This pair of vertical lines probably indicate that at 'noon' the 2nd half of the 'day' is beginning. Consequently we can guess the pair of vertical lines in Aa8-25 are also indicating that the 2nd half of some season is on its way to begin. In our example text there are very many vertical straight lines. Each of them forms the 'stem' of a 'tree', but they are not trees but female in character because they are 'threads'. 5 such 'threads' are evidently used for 'measuring summer':
And 2 more are then used for 'measuring winter solstice'. If the year is beginning with Mercury, after midsummer is over, then its 2nd part should come around winter solstice. |
