The Maya Chronicles: Brinton's Library Of Aboriginal American Literature, Number 1
History
The Maya Chronicles: Brinton's Library Of Aboriginal American Literature, Number 1
Maya language -- Glossaries, vocabularies, etc.; Maya language -- Texts; Mayas -- Antiquities; Mayas -- History
The name of Mayapan is given in the form Mayalpan, which I think is
dialectic. It is spoken of as an established city under the joint rule
of several chiefs at the date of the founding of Uxmal.
9. This paragraph describes how the ruler of the Itzas lost his share in
the government of Mayapan. _Kebanthan_, literally a plot, or to plot to
do some injury--"concertar de hacer algun mal, y el tal concierto,"
_Diccionario de Motul_, MS. I have followed Pio Perez in translating
"against Hunac Eel," although "by Hunac Eel" seems more correct.
Elsewhere the name is Hunac Ceel. Ancona argues that he was a member of
the Cocom family (_Hist. de Yucatan_, I. p. 157.)
Several of the names of the seven "men of Mayapan" have a Nahuatl
appearance. Kakaltecat=Cacaltecatl, He of the Crow; Ytzcuat=Itzcoatl,
Smirch-faced snake; Xuchueuet=Xochitl, the rose or flower;
Pantemit=Pantenamitl, the Conqueror of the city wall. These would seem
to bear out what Landa and Herrera say, to the effect that at one period
the rulers of Mayapan invited Aztec warriors from the province of
Tabasco to come and dwell in the city and aid them in controlling the
inhabitants.
Both Dr. Valentini and Señor Pio Perez are of opinion the Katuns at the
commencement of this paragraph should read the 10th, 8th and 6th,
instead of the 11th, 9th and 6th, as it is necessary in order to
establish consistency with what follows.
10. This is one of the most obscure sections in the chronicle. The
phrase _tumenel u uahal uahob_ is rendered by Pio Perez "because he made
war," while Brasseur translates it "because of his great feasts." The
meaning of the root _uah_ is maize cakes, or, more generally, bread. The
_Diccionario de Motul_ gives: "UAHIL; banquete, convite ô comida," which
is in favor of Brasseur's translation.
_Oxlahun uuɔ_, "thirteen divisions;" _uuɔ_ or _uuuɔ_ means literally a
fold or double, and hence appears to have been applied to ranks of men
in double rows. I do not find, however, any such meaning given in the
dictionaries. As a numeral particle it is used to count whatever occurs
in folds or doubles.
The number thirteen had a sacredness attached to it, from its frequent
use in the calendar. It appears from a passage in the _Popol Vuh_ that
the Cakchiquels, Pokomams and Pokomchis also divided their tribes into
thirteen sections (_Popol Vuh_, p. 206). In the Maya language, 13 is
also used to signify a great but indefinite number: thus _oxlahun
cacab_, thirteen generations, is equivalent to "forever"; _oxlahun
pixan_, thirteen times happy, is to be happy in the supreme degree; more
remote from customary analogies is the phrase for "full moon," _oxlhaun
caan u_, literally "the thirteen-sky moon," the moon which fills with
its light the whole sky (_Diccionario de Motul_, MS.).
The phrase _u ɔabal u natob_ is not translated at all in the English
rendering in Stephens' _Travels_, nor in that of Valentini. Brasseur
paraphrases it "by him who gives intelligence."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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