THOMAS] THE FIFTEENTH DAY 251 
The Tzental and Quiche-Cakchiquel, tziquin, signifies “ bird” in gen- 
eral, and the Nahuatl, quauhtli, “eagle.” The Maya and’ Zapotec 
names are more difficult to bring into harmony with the others. Dr 
Brinton thinks that the Zapotec name is derived from na, “to know, 
to understand, to be able through knowledge.” This, he says, ‘‘exactly 
corresponds to the Maya men, which means to understand, to be able 
todo . . . ; hence in this latter tongue, ah-men means the man of 
knowledge, the wise one, the master of wisdom.” ‘“ The bird,” he adds, 
“was the symbol of wisdom and knowledge.” 
Dr Seler says it is difficult to determine the Yucatan name. How- 
ever, from the form of the symbol he concludes it is intended to repre- 
sent an aged face, by which he connects it with an aged goddess, 
Ixchel, the companion of Itzamna, and with certain Mexican deities. 
In his subsequent paper he says the Zapotec name furnishes linguistic 
proof of the above conclusion. ‘I had concluded,” he says, ‘“ that the 
Maya hieroglyph represented the image of the old earth mother, the 
universally worshipped goddess called Tonantzin, ‘our mother,’ who is 
connected in the Codex Vienensis with the eagle symbol.” He then 
adds that the Zapotec term naa or raa signifies ‘ mother,” and thus 
finds the connection between the calendar names. 
It is probable we will not be far wrong if we assume that reference to 
the bird as used in this connection is not so much to it as an animal as 
an augury, sign, or portent. The birds introduced in the Dresden and 
Troano codices, especially those on pages 16, 17, and 18 of the former 
and 18* and 19* of the latter, are supposed to have reference to augu- 
ries. Inthe “ Vocabulario Castellano Zapoteco,” under “ Ave,” we find 
mani-biici, “ave agorera.” In the Dresden Codex (17b) one of the 
birds introduced as playing this role’ is an eagle, or some rapacious 
species resembling an eagle or vulture. Although Seler believes the 
symbol to have been derived from the aged wrinkled female face, yet 
he closes his observations on this day in his first article as follows: 
I think the reference to the eagle is very distinctly indicated [referring to a num- 
ber of glyphs accompanying or indicating an eagle-like bird]. We can understand 
that these hieroglyphs were annexed as attributes of the deities. But how is it 
that figures 687-689 [same as our plate LX VIII, 42] serve as a seat for the Chac? Now 
Chae [he refers to the long-nose god] is not really a god of water, but of rain; the 
rain-producing storm cloud is his vehicle; the storm bird is his beast of burden on 
which he rides. : 
It follows from this, notwithstanding his supposition in regard to 
the origin of the symbol, that he looks upon it as signifying the eagle, 
or bird. However, the explanations given by Drs Brinton and Seler 
of the Maya name fail to make a satisfactory connection between the 
names in the different calendars. 
Not only do we find birds introduced on the pages of the Troano and 
Dresden codices above referred to, apparently for the purpose of indi- 
cating augury, but on Dres. 69b we see the long-nose god (probably 
Itzamna) sitting on the glyph Lxvi1tl, 42, holding a bird in his arms, 
