ee_, mother, employed by both sexes in addressing
adult women. In Xahila's writings, we constantly find the words _nimal_,
elder brother, and _cha[t]_, younger brother, inserted merely as
friendly epithets. The term _mama_, grandfather, almost always means
simply "ancestor," or, indeed, any member of an anterior generation
beyond the first degree. This word must not be confounded with _mam_ (an
error occurring repeatedly in Brasseur's writings), as the latter means
"grandchild;" and according to Father Coto, it may be applied by a
grandparent of either sex to a grandchild of either sex.

_Titles and Social Castes._

There are a number of terms of frequent recurrence in Xahila's text,
expressing the different offices in the government, rank in social life
and castes of the population, which offer peculiar difficulty to the
translator, because we have no corresponding expressions in European
tongues; while to retain them in the version, renders it less
intelligible, and even somewhat repulsive to the reader. I have thought
it best, generally, to give these terms an approximate English rendering
in my translation, while in the present section I submit them to a
critical examination.

The ordinary term for chief or ruler, in both the Cakchiquel and Maya
dialects, is _ahau_. Probably this is a compound of _ah_, a common
prefix in these tongues, originally signifying _person_, and hence, when
attached to a verb, conveying the notion of one accustomed to exercise
the action indicated; to a noun of place, a resident there; and to a
common noun, a worker in or owner of the article; and _u_, a collar,
especially an ornamental collar, here intended as a badge of authority.
_Ahau_ is, therefore, "the wearer of the collar;" and by this
distinction equivalent to chief, ruler, captain, lord, king, or emperor,
by all which words it is rendered in the lexicons. It is not a special
title, but a general term.

Scarcely less frequent is the term _ahpop_. This is a compound of the
same prefix _ah_, with the word _pop_, which means a mat. To sit upon
such a mat was a privilege of nobility, and of such dignitaries as were
entitled to be present at the national council; _ahpop_, therefore, may
be considered as equivalent to the German title _Rath_, counsellor, and
appears to have been used much in the same conventional manner. In the
Cakchiquel lexicons, _popoh_ is "to hold a council;" _popol_, a council;
_popoltzih_, "to speak in counci