27^ 



11. Analysis of the Day-Xames. 



[Brinton. 



List of the Usual Day-Names in the 3Iaya, Tzental and Quiche- 



Cakchiquel Dialects, and in the Zapotec and Na- 



huatl Languages {the Dominical days in 



small capitals). 



The First Day. 



1. Maya, imix; 2. Tzental, imox or max ; 3. Quiche-Cak., imox or moxin ; 

 4. Zapotec, chilla or chiylla ; 5. Nahuall, cipactli. 



It is evident that the three Maya dialects have the same word, 

 Pio Perez regarded it as a transposition of ixim, maize, while 

 Dr. Seler, following Dr. Schelllias, derives it from the root im, a 

 teat or udder, both conveying an idea of fruitfulness.* 



The occurrence of max in Tzental, and moxin in Quiche-Cak. 

 (the latter given by Ximenes in his Vocabulario Cakchiquel, MS.), 

 shows, however, that the radical syllable is not im, but lyi-x. 

 This leads me to identify it with the Maj-a mex or meex, which 

 is the name of a fish (the " pez arana," " un pescado que tiene 



* The figure of a mamma, which represents this day in some of the drawings, is merely 

 ikonomatic. This representation is noted by Dr. Schellhas, Zeitschrift fiir FMnologie, 1886, 

 p. 22. 



