Essays of an Americanist: I. Ethnologic and Archæologic. II. Mythology and Folk Lore. III. Graphic Systems and Literature. IV. Linguistic.Brinton, Daniel G. (Daniel Garrison)
Philosophy
Essays of an Americanist: I. Ethnologic and Archæologic. II. Mythology and Folk Lore. III. Graphic Systems and Literature. IV. Linguistic.
Brinton, Daniel G. (Daniel Garrison)
America -- Antiquities; Indians
The names _u Qux cho, Qux palo_, mean “the Heart of the Lake, the Heart
of the Sea.” To them may be added _u Qux_ _cah_, “the Heart of the Sky,”
and _u Qux uleu_, “the Heart of the Earth,” found elsewhere in the
_Popol Vuh_, and applied to divinity. The literal sense of the word
heart was, however, not that which was intended; in those dialects this
word had a much richer metaphorical meaning than in our tongue; in them
it stood for all the psychical powers, the memory, will and reasoning
faculties, the life, the spirit, the soul.[140]
It would be more correct, therefore, to render these names the “spirit”
or “soul” of the lake, etc., than the “heart.” They represent broadly
the doctrine of “animism” as held by these people, and generally by man
in his early stages of religious development. They indicate also a dimly
understood sense of the unity of spirit or energy in the different
manifestations of organic and inorganic existence.
This was not peculiar to the tribes under consideration. The heart was
very generally looked upon, not only as the seat of life, but as the
source of the feelings, intellect and passions, the very soul
itself.[141] Hence, in sacrificing victims it was torn out and offered
to the god as representing the immaterial part of the individual, that
which survived the death of the body.
The two names _Ah-raxa-lak_ and _Ah-raxa-sel_ literally mean, “He of the
green dish,” “He of the green cup.” Thus Ximenez gives them, and adds
that forms of speech with _rax_ signify things of beauty, fit for kings
and lords, as are brightly colored cups and dishes.
_Rax_ is the name of the colors blue and green, which it is said by many
writers cannot be distinguished apart by these Indians; or at least that
they have no word to express the difference. _Rax_, by extension, means
new, strong, rough, violent, etc.[142] Coming immediately after the
names “Soul of the Lake,” “Soul of the Sea,” it is possible that the
“blue plate” is the azure surface of the tropical sea.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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