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GD53

GD53 occurs in two main variants, in addition to the one above there is a glyph type with a triplet of rhombs arranged vertically (and without a vertical straight line), as exemplified in Ab6-88:

Both variants may have (though seldom) only two 'balls' / 'rhombs', e.g. Aa1-53 and Ab6-2:

  

Instances with four 'balls' / 'rhombs' also seldom occur, e.g. L1-5 and Ab3-50:

  

We can perceive that there may be irregularities in the forms of the 'balls' / 'rhombs'. The sizes also varies (even in the same glyph). All these different designs presumably are intended to give more information than what follows from the fundamental concepts of the two main variants. For example, Ab6-63 and Ab6-65 surely are intentionally drawn differently:

  

Similarly, Ab5-67 and Ab5-68 are drawn not to be alike:

  

A single 'ball' can appear as head in GD56 (Aa4-28) and in GD15 (Ab2-4, Ab2-60):

     

Immediately to the right of Ab2-4 we find a glyph (Ab2-5) with two 'balls' (seen only as semicircles) appended to the uplifted arm:

This construction is used in other glyphs too, Aa4-7, Aa7-11, Aa7-27, Aa7-49, Ab1-4, Ab1-54, Ab1-66 - 8 glyphs in all:

Possibly there is a similar construction with a 'rhomb' in Aa4-1, just 6 glyphs before Aa4-7:

Sometimes only half the 'balls' are used - cfr Aa7-24:

 

Marks appear on the left side in Ab7-75--76 and Aa2-53--54:

        

Also 'rhombs' may have marks of a similar kind, as in Aa5-8, here compared with Aa3-39:

  

The little 'eyes' appear in other glyphs of the 'rhomb' type too, for instance as in Aa6-82 and Ab7-62:

  

A single mark at the top end is seen in the glyphs Ab5-52, Ab5-55 and Ab5-58:

     

From this observation it becomes evident that also the 'ball' variant may have a single mark of this kind, Ab7-32 and Ab7-36:

  

In the strange glyph Aa2-9 a single 'ball' maybe is presented, with the vertical straight line expanded into a vertical bar:

Furthermore, a vertical bar (GD37) with three slightly different forms appears in Aa7-55, Aa7-66 and Aa7-74:

     

In Aa6-47 a single 'ball' is used as an 'elbow ornament':

Exceptional are Ab8-74 and Aa8-80 (both close to the end of respective side of the tablet):

  

A single 'half-ball' possibly is meant to be seen in form of the ear in Aa2-26 (GD56), on top of the head in Aa7-8 (GD15) and at the back of the head in Aa7-11 (GD15). A single 'half-ball' also appears at the thumb in Ab8-58 (GD56) and a 'half-rhomb' is at top left in Aa2-45 (GD36):

      

It is not always easy to perceive the difference between a 'half-ball' and a 'half-rhomb'. The vertical straight line is of help, but cannot be totally relied upon, as Ya2-101 proves:

After some hesitation I have included Aa2-67 as an example of GD53:

I have added a hyperlink to GD44 because I suspect that we there have glyphs with half a 'rhomb', like in Ab4-10:

Similarly I have inserted a link to GD55 because there are glyphs which show half 'balls', as in Aa7-7:

Of course, there may be other glyph types where one 'ball' or 'rhomb' appears as the 'head' or otherwise, as in e.g. Aa2-14 (GD78) and Aa7-31 (GD113):

  

But it would be impractical trying here to define which such glyphs incorporate GD53 and which do not.

 

Aruku Kurenga (B)

Ba7-12 is a beautiful example where a rhomb is 'hidden' in the middle:

Ba8-2 has fused the three rhombs:

Bb5-14 and Bb6-25 have double semi-circles on the beaks:

  

Bb12-44 is a borderline case where an oval shape (GD86) is balanced on a rhomb:

The part below the oval has caused me to also register the glyph as GD28. Often a rhomb is perceived 'inside' GD28 glyphs, but I have neither listed such glyphs here under GD53 nor have I inserted any hyperlink from GD53 to GD28.

Bb2-46 is fundamentally an example of GD69, but I have made an exception and also included the glyph here, because a clear allusion to GD53 is seen:

 

Mamari (C)

A single rhombic 'nut' is found in Ca1-26 and Ca4-2:

  

Exceptional binary variants are exemplified in Cb9-30, Ca7-1, Ca6-11, Cb9-12 and Cb10-1:

           

Curious are also Cb9-19 and Cb9-13:

  

GD29 glyphs sometimes have a little 'ball' at top of the 'knee' as for example in Ba7-27:

That is, though, not enough reason to also classify the glyph as GD53. On the other hand, in Cb13-25 part of a rhomb is seen 'inside the knee' and that is so unusual that the glyph has been accepted also as GD53:

In GD17 there are glyphs, e.g. Ca4-26, with a rhomb at the bottom:

Such glyphs are not registered also as GD53 and neither is there a hyperlink leading from GD53 to GD17.

Cb1-17 and Cb10-13, on the other hand, I have included here because of the strange oval shapes hanging under the 'elbows' and because I have not (at least as yet) any GD to put these Y-shaped appendages into:

  

Other strange borderline cases are Ca5-1 and Ca5-3:

  

 

Échancrée (D)

Da7-102 exhibits at left another sign than the usual oval, which has induced me to also include Db3-108 under GD53 (Db3-108 is otherwise defined as a GD78 glyph):

  

Da1-111, Da4-103 and Da4-110 are examples with 'hidden' rhombs:

     

Exceptional is Db3-111 with the top of the head possibly alluding to GD53:

 

Keiti (E)

Ea4-14 is another example (cfr Da7-102) with other signs than ovals:

Ea2-7 is a strange composition:

 

The rest of the texts

The texts above have been used as a kind of 'test ground' to see if the definitions could be used.

For the rest of the texts the same principles have been used, although less stringently. The experiences gained have been relied upon rather than what is written above about what characterizes the glyph type.

There may be a few extra glyph added, which would not have been so with a strict application of the written definitions. On the other hand there has been no attempt to ignore glyphs which according to the written definitions ought to belong to the glyph type.