The name _Popol Vuh_ given to this work is that applied by the natives themselves. It is translated by Ximenez “libro del comun,” by Brasseur “livre national.” The word _popol_ is applied to something held in common ownership by a number; thus food belonging to a number is _popol naim_; a task to be worked out by many, _popol zamah_; the native council where the elders met to discuss public affairs was _popol tzih_, the common speech or talk. The word _pop_ means the mat or rug of woven rushes or bark on which the family or company sat, and from the community of interests thus typified, the word came to mean anything in common. _Vuh_ or _uuh_ is in Quiche and Cakchiquel the word for _paper_ and _book_. It is an original term in these and connected dialects, the Maya having _nooh_, a letter, writing; _uoch_, to write. There is a school of writers who deprecate such researches as I am about to make. They are of opinion that the appellations of the native gods were derived from trivial or accidental circumstances, and had no recondite or symbolic meaning. In fact, this assertion has been made with reference to the very names which I am about to discuss. I do not share this opinion. Many of the sacred names among the American tribes I feel sure had occult and metaphorical significance. This is proved by the profound researches of Cushing among the Zuñis; of Dorsey among the Dakotas; and others. But to reach this hidden purport, one must study all the ideas which the name connotes, especially those which are archaic. I begin with the mysterious opening words of the _Popol Vuh_. They introduce us at once to the mighty and manifold divinity who is the source and cause of all things, and to the original couple, male and female, who in their persons and their powers typify the sexual and reproductive principles of organic life. These words are as follows: “Here begins the record of what happened in old times in the land of the Quiches. “Here will we begin and set forth the story of past time, the outset and starting point of all that took place in the city of Quiche, in the dwelling of the Quiche people. “Here we shall bring to knowledge the explanation and the disclosure of the Disappearance and the Reappearance through the might of the builders and creators, the bearers of children and the begetters of children, whose names are Hun-ahpu-vuch, Hun-ahpu-utiu, Zaki-nima-tzyiz, Tepeu, Gucumatz, u Qux-cho, u Qux-palo, Ah-raxa-lak, Ah-raxa-tzel. “And along with these it is sung and related of the grandmother-grandfather, whose name is Xpiyacoc and Xmucane, the Concealer and Protector; two-fold grandmother and two-fold grandfather are they called in the legends of the Quiches.”[128]