The Annals of the Cakchiquels Part 19

3. _chinamit_, the sub-gens. On this see the Introduction. The our[TN-26]

referred to include the Xahila, mentioned in the previous paragraph.

These four, the Xahila, the Gekaquch, the Baqahol, and the Cibaki, formed the tribe; the remaining four, the Caveki, the Ah Queh, the Ah Pak, and the Ykomagi, were of the same lineage, but not in the confederacy.

_Daqui_; the letter _d_ does not occur either in Cakchiquel or Nahuatl.

The foreign aspect of some of these names seems to point to an ancient influence of some allophyllic tongue.

4. _He [c]a [c]oh_, etc. The writer here states that he gives the exact words of the ancient tradition. He probably wrote the text from some antique chant, which had been handed down from his ancestors. The quotation begins at the words _Cahi xpe_, and continues to near the close of the next paragraph, where the words _xecha can ri [t]a[t]avitz_, the above spoke Gagavitz, etc., mark its termination.

This is one of the most obscure pa.s.sages in the book. The original text is given by Bra.s.seur among his _pieces justificatives_, in the appendix to the first volume of his _Hist. du Mexique_. A comparison with his translation will show that in several important constructions I differ from him.

The mythological references to Tulan, [c]abouil, the Chay Abah, Xibilbay, etc., have been discussed in the Introduction. The pa.s.sage corresponds to the first chapter of the third book of the Popol Vuh.

_Tulan_, _Tullan_; these variations are in the original.

5. The particle _tan_, with which the paragraph opens, throws the narrative into the "historical present," for the sake of greater vividness. The verb _[c,]ak_, as at present used, means to make bricks, etc., out of earth.

_xtiho_; translated by Bra.s.seur, "the trial was made;" but it is the imperfect pa.s.sive of _tih_, which means "to give to another something to eat or drink."

_xaki_, plural of _xak_, generic word for leaf.

_utiuh_, _koch_; besides these, two other animals are named in the Popol Vuh.

_achak_ is the general word for excrement, either of men or brutes; also, refuse, waste products in general.

_tiuh tiuh_ is the name of a small variety of hawk. "_El gavilan pequeno_." Guzman, _Compendio de Nombres en Lengua Cakchiquel_. MS.

_mani [c]a x[c]hao_, "and he talked not." The connective _[c]a_, like _navipe_, and _pe_, all three of which may usually be translated by "and," is not placed at the beginning of the clause. _[c]ha_ is to speak in the general sense; hence, _[c]habal_, a language. Synonyms of this are _tin cha_, I say; _tin tzihoh_, I speak words, I harangue; _tin biih_, I name, I express myself; and _quin ucheex_, I tell or say, especially used in repeating what others have said (Coto, _Vocabulario_). These words are of frequent use in the text.

_Rubanic chay abah ri [c,]apal_, etc.; this obscure pa.s.sage was, I think, entirely misunderstood by Bra.s.seur. The word _[c,]apal_ is derived from the neuter form _[c,]ape_ of the active _tin [c,]apih_, I shut up or enclose, and means "that which is shut up," _lo cerrado_, and _[c,]apibal_, the active form in the next line, means "that which shuts up," _i. e._, gates or doors. It will be remembered (see ante, p. 26) that the gates of Iximche were constructed partly of, or ornamented with, obsidian, and the same is supposed here of the gates of the mythical city or place of Tulan.

_ki-kan_; our burden, our tribute. The pa.s.sage seems to indicate that they left their former country to escape subjection.

_[c]oh qui tzih_; the pa.s.sage may be translated "theirs were the words which incited us," _i. e._, to revolt and to depart.

6. The articles mentioned as paid in the tribute, have been described in the Introduction (see p. 39).

7. "So spoke the Obsidian Stone," _i. e._, the sacred oracle, referred to as the final arbiter. See ante, p. 26.

"The wood and stone which deceive," that is, the idols of wood and stone which they worshiped.

8. This paragraph is obscure, and the numerous erasures in Bra.s.seur's translation indicate the difficulty he found in discovering its meaning.

9. _[c]holloh tacaxepeval rikan [c]eche_; Bra.s.seur translates this: "_Malheureux etaient[TN-27] les fils et les va.s.saux des Quiches._" I take the word _tacaxepeval_ to be the name of the first month in the Cakchiquel calendar (see ante, p. 29); and _[c]olloh_ means "to divest ourselves of, to get rid of."

13. This and the following section describes the efforts of certain inimical powers, under the guise of birds, to obstruct and deceive the Cakchiquels. The _chahalcivan_ is a small bird which builds in the rocky sides of the ravines, and is called by the Spaniards by a literal translation, "_El guarda barranca_," the gully-guard. The _tucur_ is the owl; this name being apparently an abbreviation of the Nahuatl _tecolotl_. The bird called _[c]anixt_ is the Spanish _cotorra_, a small species of parrot. (Guzman, _Compendio de Nombres_, MS.)

On the word _labalinic_, see Introduction, p. 47.

14. The owl sat on the red tree, the _caka chee_, whence, as we learn later, the tribe derived its name, Cakchiquel--a doubtful derivation.

_Chee abah_, wood and stone; understood to refer to the idols of these substances.

_ca[t]ih_, for _Cak[t]ih_, the spring. Father Coto has the following under the words: "_Estio vel verano, cak[t]ih; pa cak [t]ih_, en el estio vel verano. Y nota que los que nosotros decimos en saliendo el verano, o que quando para, estos lo entrinden al contrario; porque decin, _mixel cak [t]ih, mani chic ru [t]ih hab_, ya salio el verano, no ay mas aguero."

16. The _cak chee_, red tree, is translated by Father Guzman, "arbol de carreta." The legendary derivation of the name Cakchiquel from this is doubtful. _[c]hamey_ may mean something more than staff; it is applied to the staff of office, the _baton de commandement_ carried by the alguacils, etc.

The whole paragraph is obscure, but seems to describe their leaving the sandy sh.o.r.e of the sea, pa.s.sing out of sight of land, then coming in sight of it again, and going ash.o.r.e.

17. The word _ikan_, burden, here as elsewhere, is usually translated by Bra.s.seur, "tribute."

18. _Ah chay_, literally, "master of obsidian." As this stone was largely used for arrow heads and other weapons, the expression in this connection seems to mean "master of arms." _Ah [c]am_, from _[c]am_, to take, seize. Bra.s.seur construes these words as in apposition to _vach_: "Whom shall we make our master of arms," etc.

_Etamayom_, from the root _et_, mark, sign; _etamah_, to know, to be skilled in an art; _etamayom_, he who knows (see _Grammar_, pp. 27, 56).

Bra.s.seur's rendering, "_le Voyant_," is less accurate. See his translation of this pa.s.sage in the _Hist. du Mexique_, Tome II, p. 92.

_[c]okikan_; Bra.s.seur gives to this the extraordinary rendering, "parfumes d'ambre." But Coto states that it was the term applied to the loads of roasted maize, which were the princ.i.p.al sustenance of the natives on their journeys.

19. The narration continues in the words of the ancestral heroes, who speak in the first person, plural.

_Nonovalcat_, _Xulpit_; the first of these names is decidedly Nahuatl, and recurs in the _Maya Chronicles_. See Introduction, p. 44. The second is clearly of Maya origin. These localities are located by Bra.s.seur on the Laguna de Terminos, near the mouth of the Usumacinta.

20. Having defeated their enemies in the field, the Cakchiquels seized their boats and ventured an attack on the town, in which they were repulsed.

_Zuyva_; this famous name in Aztec mythology, was also familiar to the Maya tribes. (See _The Maya Chronicles_, p. 110.) The term _ah zuyva_ seems here employed as a general term for the Nahuatl-speaking nations.

(See above, p. 44.)

_Ca[c]_; I do not find this word in any dictionary; perhaps it is for _ca[c,]_, a variety of wasp.

"When we asked each other," etc. Here follow some fragments of legends, explaining the origin of the names of the tribes. They are quite imaginary.

_Tohohil_, from _tohoh_, to resound in the water and the sky (sonar el rio y el ayre, _Dicc. Cak. Anon._); not _clangor armorum_, as Bra.s.seur translates it, but sounds of nature. _Tohil_ was the name of the princ.i.p.al Quiche divinity, and was supposed by Bra.s.seur and Ximenez to be an abbreviated form of Tohohil. But I have given reasons for supposing it to mean "justice," "equity," and this legend was devised to explain it, when its true etymology had become lost. (See my _Names of the G.o.ds in the Kiche Myths_, p. 23.)

_Cakix_; the bird so called, the _Ara macao_, of ornithologists, was one of the totemic signs of the Zotzil families of the Cakchiquels. The author here intimates that the name Cakchiquel is from _cakix_ and _chi_, month, forgetting that he has already derived it from _cak chee_ (Sec. 16).

_Chita[t]ah_; "in the valley."

_[t]u[t]c.u.matz_; see notes on Sec. 38.

_Ahcic ama[t]_; "the town on high," built on some lofty eminence.

_Akahal_; the derivation suggested is from _akah_, a honey-comb or wasp's nest.

_caker_. This is an important word in Xahila's narrative. It is derived from _cak_, white; hence, _caker_, to become white; also, to dawn, to become light; metaphorically, of persons to become enlightened or civilized. The active form, _cakericah_, means to inform, to acquaint with, to instruct.

21. _Nima [c]oxom, nima chah_, Bra.s.seur translates, "great ravines, enormous oaks;" _chah_ is oak, _chah_, ashes; _[c]ox_, to strike fire, to clash stones together. _[c]hopiytzel_, "the bad place where the flesh is torn from the body," referring probably to sharp stones and thorns. _Popo abah_, the Council Stone.

_Molomu chee_, "wood gathered together or piled up." It is noteworthy that this, which seems to be the name of a place, means in Cakchiquel the same as _Quauhtemallan_, Guatemala, in Nahuatl. Perhaps the Aztec allies of Alvarado merely translated the Cakchiquel name of the country.

(See Introduction, p. 22, note.)