cted With Four Quarters, Above And Below.

_Maya._

Can=four, serpent.

{Caan=sky, cord.
{Canalil=adj. grandeur, elevation.
{Canal=on top of, on; also yellow.
{Canal-cun-zaal=to exalt, elevate, aggrandize, praise.
{Cananil=necessity, need.
{Canaan=adj. necessary, needed.

Che=tree.

Zin-che=cross, literally tree of life or of power.

Zin-il=powerful, _cf._ zihnal=original, primitive.

Zihzabal=creation.

Zian=the beginning, origin, generation.

Zihil=to commence, or be born.

Zinan=scorpion, symbol.

Name And Symbol Of North.

_Maya._

Am=spider.

Aman=the north.

Star-Names.

_Maya._

Ek=star, black.

Ek-chuah=name of the patron divinity of travellers and traders, _i. e._,
the pole-star.

_cf._ Ikal, native word adopted by Spanish missionaries to denote "a
spirit."

I have already pointed out how a minute comparison of the equivalent
Mexican symbols and their names shows that the latter often seem to be
mere translations from the Maya and that the same identity of sound does
not always exist between the Nahuatl symbol, its name and true
significance. On the other hand in the much-used Mexican symbol for the
centre and four quarters, the flower, pronounced ho-chitl, but written
xo-chitl, the archaic Maya syllable ho, so intimately connected with the
centre, recurs. It also appears in the name of the constellation Ursa
Minor, xo-necuilli, in the word xoch-ayotl=tortoise, employed as a symbol,
and in the name xolotl=something double or dual, sometimes employed as a
synonym of coatl=twin, serpent. The hand=maitl was employed to express the
numeral five=macuilli. It is particularly interesting to note that in
order to express the word tlachi-ual-tepetl or "artificial mound" (the
Maya hom) in Nahuatl, the scribes had to paint a mountain surmounted by an
eye, a symbol also employed to designate stars=the eyes of night. The
Nahuatl for tree=quahuitl is almost homonymous with quaitl=head and both
were employed as symbols of the centre.

The following Nahuatl words claim special attention. The first is teotl,
which was adopted as the equivalent of the Greek Theos by the Spanish
missionaries, but which appears to have been originally used in the sense
of a "Divinity," or "divine lord," and was also applied to all lords or
rulers. The second is the verb yoli or yolinia=to live and yollotl=heart.
A special interest attaches itself, however, to the noun yauatl=circle and
the verb yaualoa=to go aroun