It is possible that the Mexicans selected the rabbit for this day as a known symbol of light, thus bringing it into correspondence with the signification of the day names of the other calendars. The method by which Drs Seler and Brinton try to bring the Maya and Zapotec names into harmony with the Mexican appears to me to be in the wrong direction.
It is therefore quite probable, from what has been shown, that the Maya, Tzental, and Quiche-Cakchiquel names refer to light, flame, or the lightning flash, and that the rabbit was selected because of some mythological relation it was supposed to bear to the sun, or light.[237-1] As this character is seldom found in combination, or used otherwise than as a day symbol, it is probable that the signification is represented by some other symbol, or is not referred to in the text.
Maya, muluc; Tzental, molo or mulu; Quiche-Cakchiquel, toh; Zapotec, niza or queza; Nahuatl, atl.
There are but few and slight variations in the form of the symbol of this day. That given by Landa is shown in plate [LXV], 39. The usual forms in the codices are seen at 40-42 of the same plate. Symbol 43, which is an important variation, is from the Cortesian Codex.
The addition of the little circle and loop in example [LXV], 43, from the Cortesian Codex, is important, as it possibly indicates that the simple forms given in plate [LXV], 40-42, are incomplete, and may be a slight indication of phoneticism. If the latter supposition be correct, it is probable that in this additional feature we find the element ’c of the word. It is one of the characteristics of the manik symbol, which, as heretofore shown, has, in some instances at least, ch as one of its phonetic elements, whether considered truly phonetic or not.
This clue, if followed up, appears to furnish an explanation of some other characters in which the little circle and loops are found. For example, the character shown in plate [LXV], 44 (Dres. 2 (45)b and c), apparently refers to the act of sewing or stitching indicated by the pictures below the text. As the circle and loops form an important part of the character, it is probable that c or ch is the chief or prominent element of the word. It is possible therefore, that chuyah, “to sew,” or some derivative thereof, would be a proper rendering. The glyph shown in plate [LXV], 45, from. Tro. 11*c is a duplication of [LXV], 44. As the appendix, as shown elsewhere, probably has ah, ha, or hal as its phonetic equivalent, we have, as the elements of the word represented by the whole glyph (omitting the prefix), ch’-ch’ah. As choch (chochah), Perez, and chooch (choochah), Henderson, signify “to loosen, untie, disunite, detach,” this may be the true interpretation of the symbol. The presence of the eye in a symbol appears, as a rule, to have no special significance, as is shown by its presence sometimes in the symbols for the days chicchan and oc. It is worthy of note that Dr Seler introduces into his manik series the character above shown as having some relation to and being possibly a variation of that symbol. Before attempting to trace the symbol of the day in its combinations with other characters, with a view of ascertaining its original signification, reference will be made to the signification of the day names in the different calendars.
The signification of the Nahuatl word atl is water; the Zapotec names are also words for water. Tohil was the name of the principal Quiche deity, and appears to have been the god of thunder and rain, and, as Seler presumes, was the representative in these nations of the Maya Chac and Mexican Tlaloc. According to Brasseur, toh signifies “a heavy or sudden shower” or “thunder shower.” Drs Seler and Brinton both derive the Maya and Tzental names from the radical mul or mol, “to join together, collect, heap up,” and suppose it refers to the gathering together of the waters (that is, the clouds) in the heavens. This brings the signification of these two names into harmony with that of the names of the other calendars, and is probably a correct interpretation.
There are but few places where the symbol of this day is found in connection with other characters that I have been able to interpret entirely satisfactorily.
The compound character shown in plate [LXV], 46, is from Dres. 16c. Judging by the evident parallelism of the groups in this division, this character is the symbol of the bird figured below the text. In this picture is easily recognized the head of the parrot. As moo is the Maya name of a species of parrot (“the macaw”), and the circular character of the glyph is like the symbol for muluc, except that the circumscribing line is of dots, we may safely accept this term as the phonetic value. The fact that the small character is double, as is the o in the word, is another indication that the rendering is correct, and probably accounts for the circle being of dots. (See above under akbal.) This interpretation appears to be further supported by the form of the symbol for the month Mol as found at Dres. 47c. (See plate [LXIV], 50.)