☙
A Mayan unit of length, = 20 azabes, estimated by Calderon at 91 centimeters. 
In concept, the distance from the middle of the sternum to the tips of the
fingers of an outstretched arm. Also spelled pātan. According to Brinton,
the word literally means “to the middle of the chest.”
Hector M. Calderon
La Ciencia Matematica de los Mayas.
Mexico, D.F.: Editorial Orion, 1966.
Daniel G. Brinton.
The Lineal Measures of the Semi-Civilized Nations of Mexico and Central America.
Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society, vol. 18, no. 118 pages 194- 197 (March 1885).
Page 197.
Be tan .l. [or] paa tan medida de media braça o una vara.
Betán or petan a measure of half a braça or one vara.
Antonio de Ciudad Real.
Calepino Maya de Motul.
Critical edition edited and annotated by René Acuña.
Mexico: Plaza y Valdes Editores, 2001.
Page 83. The Calepino Maya de Motul, a dictionary, was composed in Yucatan in the 16ᵗʰ and 17ᵗʰ centuries.
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