HEAVEN BORN MERIDA AND ITS DESTINY - Histomesoamericana

INTRODUCTION
root dictionary of about four thousand entries. I have translated primarily
from these two instruments, consulting other dictionaries when necessary
(see the bibliography in Barrera 1980).
The lexical problems of the Books of Chilam Balam are severe, and it
would be foolhardy to claim to have solved them all. I am satisfied that I
have solved some of them, and I believe that some of these solutions are
consequential beyond the minutiae of specific etymologies. Four examples
will illustrate this point.
1. Ix. In my notes this can be a particle meaning 'she who, little, too,
shoo!'; a noun for 'scales', the day name 'jaguar', or something to do with
'chalk'; or a verb for 'spoil' or something like 'lie in'. Previous translators
have opted for the first two alternatives, preferring to read ix as a
feminine marker or, failing that, as a diminutive. I find that the form
can much more frequently be sensibly read as 'and'. In the nineteenthcentury
dictionaries (e.g., Brasseur 1872), it is frequently reduced to x and
often appears in compounds with sentence-initial elements [baalx, macx,
hex, etc.). I read these as 'and what', 'and who', 'and that'.
This form first occurs in the Chumayel text in "The Third Chronicle"
(tenth century): la ix u katunil cime i 'and that was the katun count of
the death' (lines 295-296). Then we read yx ma pic tz'ul u kaba 'and Foreigners
without Skirts was their name' (line 309). Or again: buluc ahau u
katunil ti ix hop'i xpnoil lae '11 Ahau was also the katun period that began
Christianity' (lines 360-362).
Ix is frequently encountered as an element in place-names, earliest (and
still preconquest) at t ix meuac (line 910). I assume that the implication
here is diminutive: no important town or city is so named.
It may or may not be significant that it is not until after the conquest
that we encounter an ix that might mean 'she', and even then the usage is
extremely rare. Of the seventeen goddesses listed by Barrera (1948: 83), I
am prepared to concede one: Ix Tab, goddess of the hanged. I believe all
the others to be phrases introduced by 'and'. I am also willing to grant the
plausibility of Ix Chel, goddess of the rainbow, who didn't make Barrera's
list for some reason, and there can be no doubt about the acceptability of
ix mehen 'daughter' or ix ahau 'queen'.
2. May. This is an even more consequential lexical problem, since it
goes to the heart of the whole organization and meaning of the Books of
Chilam Balam. This noun may signify 'dust, hoof, mild, example, wink',
but by far the most frequent implication is 'cycle', specifically the cycle
of thirteen katuns. Previous translators have passed over the term because
it does not seem to have made the dictionaries, but from the contexts in
which it appears I believe its meaning to be unmistakable (Chumayel, line
5315; Tizimin, lines 2121, 2914, 2942, 4879, 5067).
Thus at differing dates Mayapan, Merida, Valladolid, and other cities are
referred to as may cu 'seat of the cycle'. Landa (Tozzer 1941: 27) acknowledges
the titles ahau can may 'rattlesnake of the cycle' and ah kin may
'sun priest of the cycle' as references to the highest priesthood in Yucatan
but without understanding their significance. This is the priest more
commonly called the Jaguar [balam) or the Rattlesnake [ahau can), since
his formal
hold offici
power, pre
Spokesma
Chilam B.
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the letter
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