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]

THE FIFTEENTH DAY

Maya, _men_; Tzental, _tziquin_; Quiche-Cakchiquel, _tziquin_; Zapotec,
_naa_ or _naa_; Nahuatl, _quauhtli_.

Landa's figure is so imperfect in this case that it is not given. The
usual forms and variations are shown in plate LXVI, 50 to 54. The last
two, which show the widest variation, are from the Dresden Codex.

The Tzental and Quiche-Cakchiquel, _tziquin_, signifies "bird" in
general, and the Nahuatl, _quauhtli_, "eagle." The Maya and Zapotec
names are more difficult to bring into harmony with the others. Dr
Brinton thinks that the Zapotec name is derived from _na_, "to know, to
understand, to be able through knowledge." This, he says, "exactly
corresponds to the Maya _men_, which means to understand, to be able to
do ...; hence in this latter tongue, _ah-men_ means the man of
knowledge, the wise one, the master of wisdom." "The bird," he adds,
"was the symbol of wisdom and knowledge."

Dr Seler says it is difficult to determine the Yucatan name. However,
from the form of the symbol he concludes it is intended to represent an
aged face, by which he connects it with an aged goddess, Ixchel, the
companion of Itzamna, and with certain Mexican deities. In his
subsequent paper he says the Zapotec name furnishes linguistic proof of
the above conclusion. "I had concluded," he says, "that the Maya
hieroglyph represented the image of the old earth mother, the
universally worshipped goddess called Tonantzin, 'our mother,' who is
connected in the Codex Vienensis with the eagle symbol." He then adds
that the Zapotec term _naa_ or _naa_ signifies "mother," and thus finds
the connection between the calendar names.

It is probable we will not be far wrong if we assume that reference to
the bird as used in this connection is not so much to it as an animal as
an augury, sign, or portent. The birds introduced in the Dresden and
Troano codices, especially those on pages 16, 17, and 18 of the former
and 18* and 19* of the latter, are supposed to have reference to
auguries. In the "Vocabulario Castellano Zapoteco," under "Ave," we find
_mani-biici_, "ave agorera." In the Dresden Codex (17b) one of the birds
introduced as playing this role is an eagle, or some rapacious species
resembling an eagle or vulture. Although Seler believes the symbol to
have bee