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
_Xpiyacoc_ is not so easy of solution, but I believe it to be a
derivative from the root _xib_, the male, whence _xipbil_,
masculinity,[147] and _oc_ or _ococ_, to enter, to accouple in the act
of generation.[148]
We can readily see, with these meanings hidden in them, the subtler
sense of which the natives had probably lost, that these names would be
difficult of satisfactory explanation to the missionaries, and that they
would be left by them as of undetermined origin.
* * * * *
The second fragment of Quiche mythology which I shall analyze is one
that relates to the Gods of the Storm. These are introduced as the three
manifestations of _Qux-cha_, the Soul of the Sky, and collectively
“their name is Hurakan:”
“Cakulha Hurakan is the first; Chipi-cakulha is the second; the
third is Raxa-cakulha; and these three are the Soul of the Sky.”
Elsewhere we read:
“Speak therefore our name, honor your mother, your father; call ye
upon Hurakan, Chipi-cakulha, Raxa-cakulha, Soul of the Earth, Soul
of the Sky, Creator, Maker, Her who brings forth, Him who begets;
speak, call upon us, salute us.”[149]
_Cakulha_ (Cakchiquel, _cokolhay_) is the ordinary word for the
lightning; Raxa-cakulha, is rendered by Coto as “the flash of the
lightning” (_el resplandor del rayo_); Chipi-cakulha is stated by
Brasseur to mean “le sillonnement de l’eclair;” _chip_ is used to
designate the latest, youngest or least of children, or fingers, etc.,
and the expression therefore is “the track of the lightning.”
There remains the name Hurakan, and it is confessedly difficult.
Brasseur says that no explanation of it can be found in the Quiche or
Cakchiqùel 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 latitudes, and, borrowed from the Haytians by early
navigators, has under the forms _ouragan_, _huracan_, _hurricane_,
passed into European languages. I am convinced, however, that the word
Hurakan belongs in its etymology to the Maya group of dialects, and must
be analyzed by them.
One such etymology is indeed offered by Ximenez, but an absurd one. He
supposed the word was compounded of _hun_, one; _ru_ his; and _rakan_,
foot, and translates it “of one foot.” This has very properly been
rejected.
On collating the proper names in the _Popol Vuh_ there are several of
them which are evidently allied to Hurakan. Thus we have _Cabrakan_, who
is represented as the god of the earthquake, he who shakes the solid
earth in his might and topples over the lofty mountains. His name is the
common word for earthquake in these dialects. Again, one of the titles
of Xmucane is _Chirakan Xmucane_.
The terminal _rakan_ in these names is a word used to express greatness
in size, height or bigness. Many examples are found in Coto’s
_Vocabulario_.[150]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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