1885.] IJo [Brinton. 



In a study of the art-products of Mexico and Central America, 

 it has occurred to me that we may with advantage call linguis- 

 tics to our aid, and attempt to ascertain, by our analysis of the 

 words for weights and measures, what units, if any, were employed 

 hy those who constructed the massive works in that region, 

 which still remain for our astonishment. The tongues I shall 

 examine are the Maya of Yucatan, its related dialect, the Cak- 

 chiquel of Guatemala, and the Nahuatl or Aztec of Mexico. The 

 most striking monuments of art in I^orth America ai'e found in 

 the territories where these were spoken at the time of the con- 

 quest. The Cakchiquel may be considered to include the 

 Quiche and the Tzutuhil, both of which are closely associated 

 to it as dialects of the same mother tongue. 



The Ilayas. 



The generic word in Maya for both measuring and weighing, 

 and for measures and weights, is at present ppiz, the radical 

 sense of which is "to put in order," "to arrange in definite 

 limits," Its apparent similarity to the Spanish 2>6sar^ French 

 peser, etc., seems accidental, as it is in Maya the root of various 

 words meaning battle, to fight, etc., from the " order of battle " 

 observed on such occasions. Any weight or measure is spoken 

 of as pjnzib, to measure land is ppiz luum^ a foot measure ppiz- 

 oc, etc. But I am quite certain that the original scope of the 

 word did not include weight, as there is no evidence that the 

 ancientMayas knew anything about a system of estimating quan- 

 tity b}^ gravity. If the word is not from tlie Spanish peaar^ it 

 has extended its meaning since the conquest. 



The Maya measures are derived direct^, and almost exclu- 

 sively from the human body, and largely from the hand and foot. 



Oc, the foot ; chekoc, the footstep, the joint or length of the 

 foot as a measure of length. Other forms of the same are chekel, 

 chekeb. chekeb-oo, chek-oc,Sind this abundance of synonj-ms would 

 seem to show that the measure of a foot was very familiar and 

 frequent. The verb is chekoc (tah, te)^ as in the phrase : 



Chekocte yotocJi Ku. 



He measured by feet His house God. 



i. e. He measured b}' feet the church. From this was dis- 

 tinguished — 



