I am unable to offer any suggestions as to the origin of the symbol. I do not think the suggestion that it is intended to represent an aged face of woman or man of any force or worthy of serious consideration. The symbol would be just as complete so far as its signification is concerned without the eye as with it.
Maya, cib; Tzental, chabin; Quiche-Cakchiquel, ahmak; Zapotec, guilloo or loo; Nahuatl, cozcaquauhtli. In addition to these the following are also given: Pipil, tecolotl; Meztitlan, teotl itonal or temetlatl.
The forms of this symbol shown in plates [LXVI], 56 to 59, and [LXVII], 1 to 3, are those usually found in the codices, the slight differences being due to the greater or less degree of perfection with which they have been made. Landa’s figure is similar to [LXVII], 1. The variants in [LXVII], 4 and 5, are from Dres. 46 and 49; but the symbols found in the day columns of Dres. 46 to 50 must not be taken as evidence of peculiar types, as they are to a large extent dashed off without care, one or two of a column being sufficiently exact for determination and the rest mere blotches. I have referred to them here and under other days simply because Dr Seler has noticed them; hence had I failed to allude to them it might be thought an oversight. However, I do not think any of the variations in the day columns of these five plates should be taken into consideration as types.
The Nahuatl name cozcaquauhtli is the “royal zopilote” (Sarcoramphus papa of ornithologists). Drs Seler and Brinton agree in the supposition that the Zapotec name is derived from balloo, “the raven or crow.” Dr Seler says that the Quiche-Cakchiquel word ahmak seems to signify the vulture, “who pecks out the eyes,” “who makes deep holes;” while Dr Brinton maintains that the Quiche ahmak means “the master of evil,” referring to the owl, which is esteemed a bird of evil omen and bad fortune. The Pipil tecolotl also denotes “the night bird or owl.”
The Maya and Tzental names, however, present a difficulty not so easily explained. The signification of the former is “wax, gum, or copal gum,” and also, according to Henderson, “root.” According to Brinton the Tzental radical chab means “honey, was, bee, a late meal.” He refers, however, to the Cakchiquel, where he finds that ch’ab means “mud, clay, mire,” and suggests that “as red and black clays were the primitive pigments this may connect the Tzental day name with the Maya.” Seler, however, derives the Maya name from ci or cii, “to taste good,” “to smell good;” and as ci is also the name of the maguey plant, and likewise refers to the pulque or intoxicating drink from this plant, he concludes that cib must have been formed by the addition of the instrumental suffix, and hence refers to that which is used for wine, “either the honey, or, more correctly, the narcotic root.”
This conclusion he thinks is strengthened by the fact that the corkscrew figure, which is the chief element of the cib symbol, is found several times on vases or earthen vessels (see [LXVII], 6). Attention is called in this connection to the fact that loo in Zapotec signifies “root,” which is also one of the meanings given by Henderson to the Maya cib, which would seem to strengthen Dr Seler’s conclusion.