Brinton.] ^^^ [Nov. 4, 



Raxa-cakulha, translated by Brasseur "la foudre qui frappe subitement" 

 is rendered by Goto as ' ' the flash of the lightning ' ' (el resplandor del rayo); 

 Chipi-cakulha is stated by Brasseur to mean " le sillonnement de I'eclair ;" 

 ghip is used to designate the latest, youngest or least of childi-en, 

 fingers, etc. 



There remains the name Hurakan and it is confessedly difficult. Bras- 

 seur says that no explanation of it can be found in the Kiche or Cakchiquel 

 dictionaries and that it must have been brought from the Antilles where 

 it was the name applied to the terrible tornado of the West Indian lati- 

 tudes, and, borrowed from the Haytians by the early navigators, has 

 under the forms ouragan, huracan, liurritane, passed into Eui'opean lan- 

 guages. In default of any other probable origin such for a long time 

 was my own opinion, and it is indeed difficult to allow the probability that 

 in Hayti and Guatemala the same word should be applied to the same 

 conception, and this one of such magnitude and impressiveness, and that 

 there should be no historic connection between the tAvo. However that 

 may be, I am now convinced tliat the word Huracan belongs in its ety- 

 mology to the Maya group of dialects, and must be analj'zed by them. 



One such etymology is indeed offered by Ximenez, but an absurd one. 

 He supposed the word was compounded of Imn, one ru his, and rakun 

 foot, and translates it " de unpie." This has very properly been rejected. 



On collating the proper names in the Popol Vuh there are several of 

 them which are evidently analogical to Hurakan. Thus we have Ca- 

 brahan, who is represented as the god of the earthquake, he who shakes 

 the solid earth in his might and topples over the lofty mountains. To this 

 day his name is the common word for earthquake in these dialects. 

 Again, one of the titles of Xmucane is Chirakan Xmucane (p. 22). 



The terminal rakcui in these names is a word used to express greatness 

 in size, height or bigness. Many examples are found in Coto's Vocabu- 

 lario. He says 

 ' ' Larga cosa : Lo ordinario es poner o^alian para significar la largura 



"de palo, cordel, etc. : para decir, larga caballera trae aquella muger, 



' ' dicen : nahtiJc rakan ru m lae ixok. ' ' 



For a person tall in stature he gives the expression togam rakan : for 

 large in body (grande del cuerpo) the Cakchiquel is naJU rakan. But the 

 most appropriate entry in this connection is that in which he gives us the 

 Cakchiquel of giant : 

 " Oigante : 7m rapah rakan eld vinak, Im clwgah rakan chi rinak ; este 



' ' nombre se usa de todo aiaimal que en su specie es mas alto que los 



"otros. Meo. F* Saz, serm. de circumsciss. dice del Gigante Golias : 



"tugotic rogoric rakan chiaeJd Gigante Golias." 



Here we find the exact combination, Hw-rakan, used in the signification 

 of the greatest of a kind, gigantic, colossal. Among the Northern Indians 

 the notion prevailed that each species of animal included one enormous 

 one, much larger than the others, to whom others were subject, and Avhich 



