1893.] ^Oy [Brinton. 



The Ticenh'eth Bay. 



1. Maya, ahau ; 2. Tzental, aglmal ; 'd. Quiclie-Cak., hun ahpu ; 4. Za- 

 polec, lao, or loo ; 5. Naliuatl, xocliitl, or (Meztitlan) ome xochitonal. 



The Maj'a word means ruler or chieftain, literally, "the master 

 of the collar," i. e,, the insignia of office ; * the Tzental aghual 

 is from the same root and signifies " sovereignty ; " the 

 Quiche' hun ahpu, the One Master of Power, conveys a similar 

 idea. The Nahuatl xochifl, flower or rose, is explained in its real 

 sense by the xochitonal of the dialect of Meztitlan, " the flower 

 of the day," i.e., the sun. This has been fully shown for the 

 Nahuatl by Dr. Seler, and there is no doubt but that the " ruler " 

 referred to by the Maya dialects is specifically the sun, the day 

 god. 



The Zapotec Jao, or loo, here has the meaning " eye," that is, 

 in reference to the sun as " the eye of the daj^," precisely as in 

 the Maya expression Kin ich, which I have elsewhere ex- 

 plained, f 



All the names of the 20th day, therefore, convey the same eso- 

 teric signification. 



A careful examination of this list of da^Miames shows that 

 at least in eight instances (Daysl, 2, 7, 11, 13, 17, 18, 19) the 

 names are merely translations of the same word ; and that sub- 

 stantiall}" in all the remainder, the diff'erences which exist arise 

 from using a figurative instead of a literal rendering of the 

 name. 



There can be no question therefore but that the Calendar 

 names had one and the same origin ; but in which of the three 

 linguistic stocks represented the list offers no positive evidence. 

 The Zapotec, which is the language geographically intermediate 

 between the Maya dialects and the Nahuatl, agrees with the lat- 

 ter in five instances where it disagrees with the former ; and 

 agrees with the Maya in three instances whei'e it disagrees with 

 the Nahuatl names. Three times the Zapotec agrees with the 



*The derivation of ahau from a theoretical root ahu, as proposed by Dr. Seler, is 

 unnecessary; ah-auh, "the collar-bearer," because this was a symbol of authority 

 (compare the stone collars from Porto Rico, etc.), remains the most plausible etymology. 



t The full expression is Kin-ich-ahau, Lord of the Eye of the Day, which explains this 

 day -name, Ahau. See my American Hero Myths, pp. 153, 158 



PROC. AMEK. PHILOS. SOC. XXXI. 142. 2 K. PRINTED NOV. 18, 1893. 



