The phrase u heɔicab Ahcuitok Tutulxiu Uxmal is translated by Pio Perez “se pobló en Uxmal,” established himself in Uxmal,” conveying the impression that he merely moved to that city. This is, however, not the sense of the original. Heɔicab is an active verb governing Uxmal as its direct object, and means to found firmly or promptly.
The expression halach uinicil, the real man, the true man, is a common idiom for governor or ruler, he being the only “real man” in an autocratic community (ante p. [26]).
The name of Mayapan is given in the form Mayalpan, which I think is dialectic. It is spoken of as an established city under the joint rule of several chiefs at the date of the founding of Uxmal.
[Maya]
[English]9. This paragraph describes how the ruler of the Itzas lost his share in the government of Mayapan. Kebanthan, literally a plot, or to plot to do some injury—“concertar de hacer algun mal, y el tal concierto,” Diccionario de Motul, MS. I have followed Pio Perez in translating “against Hunac Eel,” although “by Hunac Eel” seems more correct. Elsewhere the name is Hunac Ceel. Ancona argues that he was a member of the Cocom family (Hist. de Yucatan, I. p. 157.)
Several of the names of the seven “men of Mayapan” have a Nahuatl appearance. Kakaltecat=Cacaltecatl, He of the Crow; Ytzcuat=Itzcoatl, Smirch-faced snake; Xuchueuet=Xochitl, the rose or flower; Pantemit=Pantenamitl, the Conqueror of the city wall. These would seem to bear out what Landa and Herrera say, to the effect that at one period the rulers of Mayapan invited Aztec warriors from the province of Tabasco to come and dwell in the city and aid them in controlling the inhabitants.
Both Dr. Valentini and Señor Pio Perez are of opinion the Katuns at the commencement of this paragraph should read the 10th, 8th and 6th, instead of the 11th, 9th and 6th, as it is necessary in order to establish consistency with what follows.
[Maya]
[English]10. This is one of the most obscure sections in the chronicle. The phrase tumenel u uahal uahob is rendered by Pio Perez “because he made war,” while Brasseur translates it “because of his great feasts.” The meaning of the root uah is maize cakes, or, more generally, bread. The Diccionario de Motul gives: “UAHIL; banquete, convite ô comida,” which is in favor of Brasseur’s translation.
Oxlahun uuɔ, “thirteen divisions;” uuɔ or uuuɔ means literally a fold or double, and hence appears to have been applied to ranks of men in double rows. I do not find, however, any such meaning given in the dictionaries. As a numeral particle it is used to count whatever occurs in folds or doubles.
The number thirteen had a sacredness attached to it, from its frequent use in the calendar. It appears from a passage in the Popol Vuh that the Cakchiquels, Pokomams and Pokomchis also divided their tribes into thirteen sections (Popol Vuh, p. 206). In the Maya language, 13 is also used to signify a great but indefinite number: thus oxlahun cacab, thirteen generations, is equivalent to “forever”; oxlahun pixan, thirteen times happy, is to be happy in the supreme degree; more remote from customary analogies is the phrase for “full moon,” oxlhaun caan u, literally “the thirteen-sky moon,” the moon which fills with its light the whole sky (Diccionario de Motul, MS.).
The phrase u ɔabal u natob is not translated at all in the English rendering in Stephens’ Travels, nor in that of Valentini. Brasseur paraphrases it “by him who gives intelligence.”