Instead of having to surmise this fancied relation, I think the explanation is to be found in the fact that similarity in the form of the glyph is indicative of a similarity in the sounds of the words represented. Here the ch becomes x (sh).
Dr Seler also calls attention in this connection to the animal figures in Dres. 36a and elsewhere, which are “represented as plunging down from heaven with torches in their paws, and fire also issuing from the tassel-like ends of their tails, which doubtless denote the lightning, the death-dealing servant of the Chac.” By the mention of this last word—chac—Dr Seler has shown that correct reasoning by a different line leads to precisely the same result as that which appeals to the phonetic or ikonomatic character of the symbol. Here again the ch sound appears as the chief element of the character. The rain or field deities, the chacs, are usually represented in the codices as dog or panther like animals; and chuac, “the tempest,” and, according to Henderson, chac also, signifies lightning. But the relation of figures and phonetic value includes also the animal; chacbolay, “a savage tiger, a young lion” (Perez); chacboay, “a leopard” (Henderson); chacoh, “a leopard;” chacekel, “a tiger, jaguar;” chac-ikal, “the storm, the tempest.” The similar figures in Tro. 32c probably symbolize the dry burning season which parches and withers the corn. The word is probably choco, chocou, or some related form.
Maya, kan or kanan; Tzental, ghanan; Quiche-Cakchiquel, k’at (k’ate, k’atic, gatu); Zapotec, guache or gueche; Nahuatl, cuetzpallin.
The Maya symbol of this day is subject to but few and slight variations. The principal forms are shown in plates [LXIV], 57, to [LXV], 3. That given by Landa is presented in plate [LXIV], 57. The forms in the codices are shown in plates [LXIV], 58; [LXV], 1, 2, 3, that with the eye ([LXV], 3) being the usual form given in Peresianus; [LXV], 4 represents it as found on the right slab of the Palenque tablet.
The significations of the Maya word kan are various, as “yellow,” “rope,” “hamac,” etc, and, according to Dr Brinton, the Tzental ghanan is the same word under a slightly different form. However, he contends that the original sense is to be found in the Cakchiquel word k’an, as given by Guzman (in a manuscript work in his possession), who says it is the name applied to the female iguana, or tree lizard. This, it is true, brings the signification into close correspondence with that of the Nahuatl term, but it is more than probable that the Maya and Tzental terms were in use before the application mentioned by Guzman was made by the Cakchiquel. It is noticeable, however, that in the list from Taylor’s “Te-Ika-a-Maui,” presented in the appendix, “lizards” are given as symbolic of one of the New Zealand days.
This interpretation, however, savors too much of an effort to bring the signification into harmony with the Mexican name. Moreover, it is difficult to explain the use of the Maya symbol on this theory, as it is undoubtedly frequently employed to denote the grain of maize. For example, it represents the seed from which a corn plant is springing, as on Tro. 29b (see plate [LXIV], 32); and one figure in the same division represents a bird plucking it up, while another shows some small quadruped seizing it. It is also frequently represented in all the codices as on a platter or vessel placed as an offering to some deity, and is often given a yellowish tint in these places. That the plant which arises from the symbol in these instances is the maize stalk is admitted by Drs Schellhas and Seler, although they do not seem to recognize the fact that the symbol represents the grain of maize which gives birth to the stalk. However, Dr Seler, in his subsequent paper above referred to, concludes that it refers to the seed, dropping his former interpretation. Both seem to recognize the whole glyph as a symbol of the stalk. Concerning this, Dr Seler says:
Indeed, we see in Cod. Mendoza the maize shoot employed to express the word acatl, “reed.” I believe that the character kan repeats the Mexican idea, the maize stalk. This explains for us the reason why the character kan, as above pointed out, always appears among the sacrifices.