The Nahuatl name and the Quiche-Cakchiquel, balam, denote the “tiger,” possibly the jaguar, though the Mexican name certainly refers to the ocelot. Dr Brinton says that the Zapotec eche, or in the full form be-eche-guia, has the same signification. Dr Seler, however, derives it from the term peche-tao, “the great animal”—the tiger, or ferocious animal. But the other names, ix, hix, hiix or gix, as they are variously written (though really one word), present a more serious difficulty to the attempt to bring them into harmony with the others.
Dr Seler says:
The Cakchiquel term yiz, i. e., the Maya h-ez, “the sorcerer,” may well be considered as giving an explanation of the Maya name of this day character (ix). My conception, after one more link in the chain of evidence pointing toward it, is that the day-character system has become known to the Mayas through the medium of the cognate branches of Chiapas, for we frequently find the Tzental-Zotzil x corresponding to the Maya z.
Dr Brinton says that the Maya, Tzental, and Cakchiquel word hix or ix means “sorcerer,” though he does not furnish the evidence. Moreover, he adds immediately after that “it is probable ix is a variant of ik or igh ‘wind, breath, life,’” and makes the connection by referring to the fact that blowing was practiced in medicine rites. It would have been more satisfactory, however, had he given the evidence on which he based his assertion that the Maya and Tzental name means “sorcerer.” According to Ximenes the Cakchiquel name yiz denotes the “sorcerer;” and it is probable that the signification of ix or hix is the same, as the codices appear to give support to this conclusion.
On Dres. 8a the character shown in plate [LXVI], 43, stands in the text over the figure of a tiger, and evidently refers to it. The close resemblance of this to the ix symbol from Tro. 12c shown in [LXVI], 39, is too manifest to be overlooked. The same symbol is found in Tro. 17c, but here the prefix is changed to the numeral 4; below is a tiger-like animal with a feathered tongue protruding from its mouth. I have taken for granted, from the indicated action and my interpretation of one of the accompanying symbols, that this figure was intended to indicate the sorcerer or diviner. This supposition I admit is not supported by sufficient evidence to demand acceptance. However, it is probable that Léon de Rosny is justified in rendering [LXVI], 43, by ek-balam. This supposition will be strengthened by any evidence tending to show that the prefix is properly interpreted by ek.
The symbol for the month Ceh, as given in Dres. 49c, is shown in [LXVI], 44, and is the same as Landa’s figure minus the suffix or month determinative. It would seem from the fact that the lower character of this symbol is the same as the lower portion of the symbols for Yax ([LXIV], 12) and Zac ([LXVI], 48), that the word Ceh, if the writing is phonetic or ikonomatic, does not give the entire phonetic equivalent unless the x or c of the other names is here softened to h. It may be added, however, that Henderson gives both Ceh and Kez as the name of the month and the Maya name for “deer.” In the Zotzil vocabulary “ciervo” is chig and “venado” chigh. There is, however, a difficulty in harmonizing this with the symbol for the month Zip—in which the same character appears—that I have not been able to explain. Nevertheless, it may be said, as the lower character appears (from evidence that will not be introduced at this point) to have z or dz as its chief phonetic element, that it is possible the name had sometimes ek or ke prefixed. Running through the lower division of plates 46-50 of the Dresden Codex is a line consisting of repetitions of the character shown in [LXVI], 45. Here we have again our k’, ke, or ek glyph as a prefix. The right portion of the symbol bears a somewhat close resemblance to some forms of the symbol of the day Lamat (but not to kin, as has been suggested), and is so interpreted by Brasseur and Léon de Rosny. As ek signifies “star,” and lemba “resplendent, bright, shining, sparkling,” the phonetic value of the glyph may be “the bright, shining star,” alluding to Venus. According to Henderson, eekil, ekil, or yekil was used to designate this star, zaztal being added to name it as a “morning star.” According to the “Report on the city of Valladolid,”[250-1] the name given the “morning star” was noch eke (or eque). It is possible, therefore, that Dr Förstemann is right in supposing that the long numeral series running through plates 46-50 of this codex relates to the apparent revolution of the planet Venus.
In Dres. 18c is the compound symbol shown in plate [LXVI], 46, followed by 47. In the former we see our ek or ke symbol as the upper character and the supposed cimi ([LXV], 28) glyph as the lower character, and to the left a prefix. This prefix is precisely that in the symbol for the month Zac ([LXVI], 48), and has presumably the same value in one glyph as the other. This will give, as the proper rendering of the symbol [LXVI], 46, zeek-cimil, “the skull of the dead.” By referring to the figure below the text, a woman is seen bearing on her back a skull inclosed in a wrapping of some kind, which in Kingsborough, where the color is retained, appears to be cloth. This certainly agrees with the rendering of the glyph. The symbol which follows it, shown in [LXVI], 47, has one of the elements of [LXVI], 27, and, as suggested under “the Thirteenth Day,” should probably be interpreted cuchpach, “a carrier or porter” (or “bear upon the back”). In the corresponding glyph in Tro. 20*d ([LXVI], 24) the upper portion, as above stated, refers probably to the hamper or basket-like holder in which the load is carried, and is a simple ideogram; but here ([LXVI], 47) the upper character is phonetic, corresponding very closely to the lower part of the symbols for the months Yax and Zac. The character which follows—the lower left-hand of the group of four—seen at [LXVI], 49, is the well-known symbol for woman. As the women were the burden bearers in Yucatan, the interpretation appears to be consistent. It is therefore probable that the prefix to [LXVI], 43, is to be interpreted by ek, as Rosny has suggested.
Seler, alluding to the symbol, asks, “May not the skin of the tiger, instead of the animal itself, be here indicated?” He further suggests that it represents the round hairy ear and the spotted skin of the tiger, and that the glyph shown at [LXVI], 39, represents the entire head of this animal, of which there can be little doubt.
Some of the symbols of this day, found in the Fejervary Codex, one of which is shown in [LXVIII], 41, appear to favor Seler’s idea.[250-2]