I think the creator of the G text could have seen the opportunity to define the length of the synodic lunar month:
16 * 29½ = 472 = 443 (Gb8-1) + 39 |
443 / 15 = 29.5 + 1/30 = 29.5333... |
... according to Wikipedia the 'long-term average duration' of the lunar synodic month is 29.530587981 days.
But he could not stop at glyph number 443 if the normal counting procedure used 29 nights for a month:
15 * 29 = 435 < 443 < 16 * 29 = 464 when the first 6 (ono) stars in the Pleiades (Tau-ono) rose with the Sun and thereby announced the end of the old year:
April 22 |
23 |
24 (114) |
25 |
17 |
October 22 (295) |
23 |
24 |
25 |
|
|
|
|
Gb7-30 |
Gb7-31 |
Gb8-1 (443) |
Gb8-2 |
no star listed |
θ Arietis (33.3), Mira (33.7) |
no star listed |
ξ Arietis (35.0) |
Al Ghafr-13 / Svāti-15 |
ι Lupi, 18 Bootis (216.3), Khambalia (216.4), υ Virginis (216.5), ψ Centauri (216.6), ε Apodis (216.8) |
Asellus Primus (217.8) |
, τ Lupi (218.1), φ Virginis (218.7) |
15 Bootis (215.2) ARCTURUS (215.4), Asellus Secundus (215.5), SYRMA, λ Bootis (215.6), η Apodis (215.8) |
May 13 |
14 |
15 |
16 (136) |
November 12 |
13 |
14 (318) |
15 |
|
|
|
|
Gb8-20 |
Gb8-21 |
Gb8-22 (464) |
Gb8-23 |
no stars listed |
Krittikā-3 / Legs-15 |
Atiks, Rana (55.1), CELAENO, ELECTRA, TAYGETA (55.3), MAIA, ASTEROPE, MEROPE (55.6) |
ALCYONE (56.1), PLEIONE, ATLAS (56.3) |
TAU-ONO |
φ Bootis (236.2), ω Lupi (236.3), ψ¹ Lupi (236.7), ζ Cor. Borealis (236.9)
Acrux |
ι Serpentis (237.4), γ Cor. Borealis (237.7), Unuk Elhaia (237.9) |
π Cor. Borealis, Cor Serpentis (238.1), Chow (238.6) |
κ Serpentis (239.3), δ Cor. Borealis, Tiānrǔ (239.5), χ Lupi, (239.6), ω Serpentis (239.7), Ba, χ Herculis (239.8). κ Cor. Borealis, ρ Serpentis (239.9) |
Tau Year (ta'u), he-hoa ite ta'u, to confess to a crime committed long ago, by publishing it in the form of a kohau motu mo rogorogo (rongorongo tablet). Vanaga.
1.To hang (tau), to perch (said of chickens on tree branches at night); rock on the coast, taller than others so that something can be deposited on it without fear of seeing washed it away by the waves; hakarere i ruga i te tau, to place something on such a rock; tau kupega, rope from which is hung the oval net used in ature fishing. 2. Pretty, lovely; ka-tau! how pretty! Vanaga.
1. Year, season, epoch, age. P Pau.: tau, a season, period. Mgv.: tau, a year, the season of breadfruit. Mq.: tau, year. Ta.: tau, season, time. 2. Fit, worthy, deserving, opportune; tae tau, impolite, ill-bred, unseemly; pei ra tau, system. PS Mgv.: tau, fit, suitable, proper. Sa.: tau, right, proper. To.: tau, becoming, fit, proper, agreeable. Fu.: tau, fit, proper. 3. To perch. P Pau.: tau, a perch for a bird. Mgv.: tau, to mount on a person's back. Mq.: tau, to perch, to rest on. Ta.: tau, to perch, to alight on. 4. To hang; hakatau, necklace; hakatautau, to append. P Pau.: fakatautau, to hang up. Mq.: tautau, id. Ta.: faatautau, id. 5. Anchor; kona tau, anchorage, port. P Mq.: katau, anchor. Ta.: tau, id. 6. To fight; hakatau, challenge, to defy, to incite; hakatautau, to rival. P Ma.: whakatatau, to quarrel. Churchill.
Pau.: fakatau, indolent. Ta.: faatau, id. Fakatautau, to delay, to defer. Ta.: haatautau, id. Churchill.
The Malay word for 'year' is taun or tahun. In all Polynesian dialects the primary sense is 'a season', 'a period of time'. In the Samoan group tau or tausanga, besides the primary sense of season, has the definite meaning of 'a period of six months', and conventionally that of 'a year', as on the island of Tonga. Here the word has the further sense of 'the produce of the year', and derivatively 'a year'. In the Society group it simply means 'season'. In the Hawaiian group, when not applied to the summer season, the word keeps its original sense of 'an indefinite period of time', 'a life-time, an age', and is never applied to the year: its duration may be more or less than a year, according to circumstances. So far our authority (Fornander, I, 124; cp. 119). It seems however to be questionable whether the original sense is not the concrete 'produce of the seasons', rather than the abstract 'period of time'. It is significant that on the Society Islands the bread-fruit season is called te tau, and the names of the other two seasons, te tau miti rahi and te tau poai, are formed by adding to this name. Nilsson. |
Kau, v. Haw., to hang up, suspend, to tie or gird on, to put or place a thing, to fall upon, to put on, as a burden, to set or fix, as boundaries of a land, or a decree, to promulgate, as a law; in a neuter sense, to light down, as a bird, as a spiritual influence; adj. a setting of the sun, a resting, a roost for fowls; kau-a, to hesitate, be in doubt, suspense, to beg off; kau-o, to draw, as a load; morally, to endure, to incline to, to pray for some special blessing; kau-oha, a dying charge, bequest, covenant, commission, command; kau-kai, to wait for an event, to expect; kau-kau, to take counsel, to resolve, to chide, to reprove, to explain, make clear; kau-la, a rope, cord, tendon, a prophet, a seer; kau-la-i, to hang up, put up in the sun; kau-lana, fame, report, renown; ma-kau, be ready, prepared; akau, the right hand (dexter), to be right, to the north, north. In the Southern dialects we find: Tong., tau, to hang, overhang, impend, extend to, fit, be suitable; ma-tau, the right hand; ta-tau, equal, like (balanced); tau-la, a cable; tau-ranga, an anchoring place. Sam., tau, to rest on, light on, fall on; faa-ta-tau, to compare; tau, what is proper and right; tau-au, to tend towards, either decline or increase; tau-me, stretch up the hand and not reach, to desire and not obtain; tau-i, reward, payment, revenge; tau-la, an anchor, to anchor, the priest of a god; tau-la-i, to hang up to; tau-langa, a sacred offering, an anchorage; tau-lalo, let the hands drop in fighting, be conquered; tau-tau, to hang, hang up; ma-tau, right-hand side, an axe; faa-tau, equally, alike; v. to buy, barter, sell; faa-tau-oa, a merchant.
Marqu., tau, to carry on the back; tau-tau, suspended, hung up; ta-tau, to count, reckon; tau-a, a rope, a priest; a-tau, ka-tau, an achor. N. Zeal., tau, besided previous meanings, to meet; ma-tau, expert, dexterous, shrewd. Tah., tau, to hang upon, an anchor; tau-ai, to hang up, spread out, as clothes to dry; tau-i, price, cost, to exchange, buy; tau-ra, cord, a troop, crowd, be inspired, a prophet; tau-e, a swing, see-saw; tau-piri, tail for a kite; tau-mata, a visor, a mask; tau-mi, a breastplate, plastron; a-tau, right hand, to the right. Fiji., tau, to fall, as of rain, to fall upon; tau-ca, to place or put down a thing; tau-nga, a swinging shelf. Malg., mang-hatau, mana-tao, to place, put ... (Fornander) |
By applying this knowledge (derived from G) to the C text, we can first take care of the information that side b carries (tau) 12 * 29 = 348 glyphs (= days). Then, by assuming that the Pleiades 'year' (counted with 59 nights per lunar synodic double-month) also ought to have been used in the C text: 740 (glyphs on the C tablet) - 348 (side b) = 472 (= 8 * 59) - 80. Obviously these 80 missing glyphs could refer to the days from January 1 to the March equinox:
80 |
March 21 |
22 (81) |
23 |
September 20 |
21 |
equinox (265) |
no glyph |
|
|
Ca1-1 |
Ca1-2 |
koia |
ki te hoea |
Al Fargh al Thāni-25 |
Uttara Bhādrapadā-27 / Wall-14 |
χ Pegasi (2.1), θ Andromedae (2.7) |
0h (365.25) |
Caph, SIRRAH (0.5), ε Phoenicis (0.8) |
ALGENIB PEGASI (1.8) |
12h (182.6) |
Pálida (184.6), Megrez (184.9) |
Hasta-13 / Chariot-28 |
Alchita, Ma Wei (183.1), Minkar (183.7), ρ Centauri (183.9) |
GIENAH (185.1), ε Muscae (185.2), ζ Crucis (185.4), Zaniah (185.9) |
The first day of the year should not be represented by a glyph and therefore the 80 missing glyphs ought to refer to the time from January 1 up to and including March 20:
January |
February |
March |
31 |
29 |
20 |
80 |
February carried 29 glyphs (as in a leap year) I suggest.
|