He came from the north, from the west. There are priests, there are fathers.
But what priest, what prophet, shall explain the words of the books,
In the Ninth Ahau, which ye will not understand?"[1]
From this designedly obscure chant we perceive that the ancient priests inscribed their predictions in books, which were afterward explained to the people. The expression bin alic u than woohe—literally, "he will speak the words of the letters"—seems to point to a phonetic writing, but as it may be used in a figurative sense, I shall not lay stress on it.[2]
4.—THE EXISTING CODICES.
The word Codex ought to be confined, in American archæology, to manuscripts in the original writing of the natives. Some writers have spoken of the "Codex Chimalpopoca," the "Codex Zumarraga," and the "Codex Perez," which are nothing more than manuscripts either in the native or Spanish tongues written with the Latin alphabet.
Of the Maya Codices known, only three have been published, which I will mention in the order of their appearance.
The Dresden Codex.—This is an important Maya manuscript preserved in the Royal Library at Dresden. How or when it came to Europe is not known. It was obtained from some unknown person in Vienna in 1739.
- ↑ I add a few notes on this text:
Enid is the preterit of the irregular verb hal, to he, pret. enhi, fut. enac. Katun yum, father or lord of the Katun or cycle. Each Katun was under the protection of a special deity or lord, who controlled the event.i which occurred in it. Tu coↄ pop, lit., "for the rolling up of Pop," which was the first month in the Maya year. Holom is an archaic future from hul; this form in om is mentioned by Buenaventura, Arte de la Lengua Maya, 1684, and is frequent in the sacred language, but docs not occur elsewhere. Tucal ya, on account of his love; but ya means also "suffering," "wound," and "strength," and there is no clue which of these significations is meant. Ahkinob; the original has tukinob, which I suspect is an error; it would alter the phrase to mean "In that day there are fathers" or lords, the word yum, father, being constantly used for lord or ruler. The ahkin was the priest; the ahbobat was a diviner or prophet. The 9th Ahau Katun was the period of 20 years which began in 1541, according to most native authors, but according to Landa's reckoning in the year 1561.
- ↑ In quoting and explaining Maya words and phrases in this article, I have in all instances followed the Diccionario Maya-Español del Convento de Motul (Yucatan); a copy of which in manuscript (one of the only two in existence) Is in my possession. It was composed about 1580. The still older Maya dictionary of Father Villalpando, printed in Mexico in 1571, is yet in existence in one or two copies, but i have never seen it.
