Maya \Ma"ya\ (m[aum]"y[.a]), prop. n.; pl. Maya or Mayas.
1. the Indian people occupying the area of Veracruz, Chiapas,
Tabasco, Campeche, and Yucatan, together with a part of
Guatemala and a part of Salvador. The Maya peoples are
dark, short, and brachycephalic, and at the time of the
discovery had attained a higher grade of culture than any
other American people. They cultivated a variety of crops,
were expert in the manufacture and dyeing of cotton
fabrics, used cacao as a medium of exchange, and were
workers of gold, silver, and copper. Their architecture
comprised elaborately carved temples and palaces, and they
possessed a superior calendar, and a developed system of
hieroglyphic writing, with records said to go back to
about 700 a. d.
[Webster 1913 Suppl. +PJC]
2. the language of the Mayas.
[Webster 1913 Suppl. +PJC]
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