The second fragment of Quiche mythology which I shall analyze is one that relates to the Gods of the Storm. These are introduced as the three manifestations of Qux-cha, the Soul of the Sky, and collectively “their name is Hurakan:”
“Cakulha Hurakan is the first; Chipi-cakulha is the second; the third is Raxa-cakulha; and these three are the Soul of the Sky.”
Elsewhere we read:
“Speak therefore our name, honor your mother, your father; call ye upon Hurakan, Chipi-cakulha, Raxa-cakulha, Soul of the Earth, Soul of the Sky, Creator, Maker, Her who brings forth, Him who begets; speak, call upon us, salute us.”[[149]]
Cakulha (Cakchiquel, cokolhay) is the ordinary word for the lightning; Raxa-cakulha, is rendered by Coto as “the flash of the lightning” (el resplandor del rayo); Chipi-cakulha is stated by Brasseur to mean “le sillonnement de l’eclair;” chip is used to designate the latest, youngest or least of children, or fingers, etc., and the expression therefore is “the track of the lightning.”
There remains the name Hurakan, and it is confessedly difficult. Brasseur says that no explanation of it can be found in the Quiche or Cakchiqùel dictionaries, and that it must have been brought from the Antilles, where it was the name applied to the terrible tornado of the West Indian latitudes, and, borrowed from the Haytians by early navigators, has under the forms ouragan, huracan, hurricane, passed into European languages. I am convinced, however, that the word Hurakan belongs in its etymology to the Maya group of dialects, and must be analyzed by them.
One such etymology is indeed offered by Ximenez, but an absurd one. He supposed the word was compounded of hun, one; ru his; and rakan, foot, and translates it “of one foot.” This has very properly been rejected.
On collating the proper names in the Popol Vuh there are several of them which are evidently allied to Hurakan. Thus we have Cabrakan, who is represented as the god of the earthquake, he who shakes the solid earth in his might and topples over the lofty mountains. His name is the common word for earthquake in these dialects. Again, one of the titles of Xmucane is Chirakan Xmucane.
The terminal rakan in these names is a word used to express greatness in size, height or bigness. Many examples are found in Coto’s Vocabulario.[[150]]