Sisimito II--Xibalba

by Henry W. Anderson

  Co’oc is the Ke’kchi word for ‘coconut’. The coconut palm is toni’co’oc.

  Copal, Protium copai, is one of the sacred trees of the ancient Maya who used the resin or sap, known as pom, for ceremonial incense in prayer and to ward off witchcraft, evil spirits, and the ‘evil eye’. Naba is the bark of the tree.

  Cordonsillo (Spanish) is Buttonwood, Piper amalago L. It is also known as Spanish Elder (English).

  Cot is Maya for the White Hawk, Leucopternis albicollis, also called Aguililla Blanca.

  Cruxi is Mopan for Cross Vine, Paullinia tomentosa Jacq. It is also known as ‘skipping-rope vine’ (English), and ‘hierba del pensamiento’ (Spanish).

  Cususa is a crude cane liquor.

  Cuxtal: This is a colorful braided pouch-like cultural bag used by the Maya.

  Cuyche (Mopan), Pachira aquatic Aubl, is ‘provision bark’ (English). It is also known as bobo, Santo Domingo, sapoton (Spanish).

  Daktaflai is Kriol for ‘doctor fly’, as it is known in Belize. It is one of the most serious biting fly pests. Its scientific name is Diachlorm ferru-gatus (Fabricius).

  Dama de la Noche orchid is ‘Lady of the Night’, Brassavola nodosa.

  Debellatio is the Latin term for ending a war by complete destruction of a hostile state. It is more severe than a ‘sack’.

  Ded pipl is Kriol for ‘dead people’.

  Dehndeh is Kriol for ‘those’.

  Duende is Spanish for ‘spirit’.

  Ek-chi-chan or ok-pich, both Mopan Maya, is Maiden Hair Fern, Adiantum tenerum Sw. It is also known as ‘black stick’ in English, helecho and palo negro in Spanish. The ancient Maya used this plant to decorate ceremonial alters. Today, the Maya believe that growing this plant around the house brings good luck.

  Escabeche: Belizean Escabeche is a soup made from chicken, onion, and spices, and eaten with corn tortillas. It is not to be confused with the escabeche of other countries.

  Fi geh lee waif is Kriol for ‘to have sex’.

  Fi waif is Kriol for ‘for sexual favors’.

  Fino is Spanish for ‘fine’.

  Fok is Kriol for ‘fock (English), fuck (USA)’. Other than just a cuss word, it refers to the sexual act.

  Fokin is Kriol for ‘fucking’. Other variations are foka for ‘fucker’, madafok for ‘mother-fuck’, madafoka for ‘mother-fucker’.

  Foklik is Kriol (vulgar) for ‘beat up’ as in fighting.

  Goama is Kriol for ‘hangover’. The Spanish word ‘goma’ is used mainly in Central America.

  Guaro: Spanish speaking Belizeans often refer to rum as guaro.

  Gwaava is Kriol for ‘swelling’ due to trauma. It is also the Kriol name of the fruit, guava, Psidium guajava.

  Ha’ Ta Itza: Ha’ is Maya for ‘lake’ or ‘pond’. Ta Itza means ‘At the place of the Itza (people)’. The lake being referred to here is Lake Peten Itza.

  Haab’ is part of the Maya calendric system, a version of the 365 day calendar approximating the solar year. It comprises eighteen “months” of twenty days each, plus an additional period of five days at the end of the year known as Wayeb’.

  Haaleb is the Maya word for paca or gibnut, a large rodent, Agouti paca. The Lacandon Maya word is ha’ale.

  Hach-beyo’ is Maya for ‘Perfect!’

  Hach-k’ek’en is the Lacandon Maya word for ‘waari’, the White-Lipped Peccary, Tayassu pecari.

  Hach-ka’na’aneen is Maya for ‘I’m very tired’.

  Hakab is the Maya name for the Mayflower, Tabebuia rosea, also known as roble de sabana, ipe rose (Spanish), mayflowa (Kriol), ‘pink trumpet tree’, ‘pink tecoma’, and ‘pink poui’.

  Hamadili is Kriol for ‘armadillo’.

  Ho’-k’áal-tun is Maya for ‘one hundred years’.

  Ho’-toq-tun is used here to mean ‘five hundred years’. Ho’ is ‘five’, toq is ‘hundred’, and tun is ‘year’.

  Hun-bak-tun is Maya for ‘four hundred years’.

  Huuh is Maya for ‘large lizard’.

  Iboy is Ke’kchi for ‘armadillo’.

  Icim is Maya for the Mottled Owl, Strix virgata. It is also known as Buho Tropical (Americano).

  Ih gi mi lee waif, losely translated in Kriol is ‘she allowed me to have sex with her’.

  Iik is Maya for ‘pepper, chile’.

  Iit is Maya for ‘anus’.

  Iits’in is Maya for ‘sister’.

  Ikaj is Maya for ‘stone axe’.

  Ikox is Ke’kchi for ‘mushroom’.

  Ilonel is Ke’kchi for ‘shaman’.

  Imu’t is Maya for ‘mulberry’, Morus celtidifolia Kunth.

  Imul is Ke’kchi for ‘rabbit’.

  Itzel-chub is Ke’kchi for ‘evil saliva’.

  Ix Na Li Kawa is Maya for ‘Mother Of God’. This refers to the Virgin Mary, Mother of Christ. Ix Na Li Kawa is used while Chiac is in Sisimito’s world.

  Ix-anal and anal are Mopan names for Psychotria acuminate Benth. This is the female plant. The male plant is Psychotria tenuifolia Sw. It is also known as anal, and ‘dog’s tongue’ or lengua de perro in Spanish.

  Ixbach is the Maya name for the Plain Chachalaca, Ortalis vetula, called Cocrico by Belizeans.

  Ixbenil Son is a Maya sacred song.

  Ixca junes maka ka metzev is Maya for ‘We are never stronger than when we are one.’

  Ix-chal-che (Mopan) is Pluchea odorata (L.) Cass. Other names are Santa Maria, pito sico (Spanish). There are three shrubs with the name Santa Maria. Ix-chal-che is the female. The male is known as chal-che (Mopan) and is a species of Croton. The third is Pothomorphe prltata (L.) Miq. and is known as u-tu-it (Mopan), ‘cowfoot’ (English). These are woody shrubs.

  Iximche is the Mayan name of the ‘ramon’ tree (Brosimum alicastrum), the ‘breadnut’. It comes from the words ixim and che, meaning literally ‘maize tree’

  Ix-oop is Maya for the Scarlet Macaw, Ara macao. It is also known as Guacamaya Roja, Moo, and Ah-k’ota.

  Ixpeq is Maya for ‘toad’ and ixtutz’ for ‘frog’

  Ixtama’al is Ke’kchi for ‘tamales’.

  Ix-tot (Mopan), Bromelia penguin L., is the ‘wild pineapple’. Another name is pinuela (Spanish).

  Ixtutz’ is Maya for ‘frog’, and ixpeq for ‘toad’.

  Izel is a Maya male name meaning ‘unique’.

  Iztāc-octli is the original name of the drink ‘white pulque’.

  Ja’-nima’ Beya’ is Maya for the ‘Montagua River Valley’.

  Ja’-nima’ is Maya for the Motagua River.

  Ja’ Xakanul is ‘Water Volcano’. Ja’ is Maya for ‘water’ and xakanul is Ke’kchi for ‘volcano’. Ja’ Xakanul is also used to mean ‘crater lake’ in the Sisimito Series.

  Jäl is Maya for the dried ear of corn.

  Jankro (var: jranko) is Kriol for the carrion vulture, Coragyps atratus, also known as John Crow, Carronero Comun, and Ch’om.

  Jatz’om is Maya for ‘spearthrower’ also knows as an ‘atlatl’.

  Jigging is slang for ‘masturbating’.

  Jipijapa, is Carludovica palmate. The younger leaves of this plant are used in making Panama hats, while older ones are used in construction of mats, baskets, and thatch roofs.

  Jraaz is Kriol for ‘drawers’ or brief.

  Juk is Kriol (vulgar) for ‘to have sex’. Jukin is ‘having sex’ or ‘having sex with’.

  Jul is Maya for ‘cave, hole, perforation, grave’.

  Jun is Maya for ‘one’.

  Jut Jut is the soft hoot hoot call of the Blue-Crowned Motmot, Momotus momota. Jut Jut is its Maya name and ‘Good Cook’ its Belizean name. It is also known as Momoto Mayor, Toh, or Bukpic. Motmots are a family of beautiful birds found only in the tropics.

  K’ab is Maya for ‘hour’ or ‘hand’. One hour may also be referred to as ‘one hand’ width. As the sun crosses the sky, midday would, therefore, be six hands above the horizon.

  K’ah
is ‘cornsham (roasted corn grain)’. It can be used to make a beverage in the same manner of coffee and cocoa. It can also be sprinkled with sugar and eaten as a gritty powder. Cornsham can be boiled until thick and served as a lab, a type of corn beverage, sweetened to taste. This is called pinol in Mopan and k’ah in Ke’kchi.

  K’ambul is the Great Curassow, Crax rubra. It is also known as Hocofaisdn or Bolonchan.

  K’atun is the Maya unit for 7,200 days or approximately 20 solar years.

  K’éek’en is Maya for ‘pig’.

  K’iäqbal is Maya for ‘sling stones’. Here it is used for ‘darts’ as well.

  K’iin is Maya for ‘day’.

  K’ik’ is Maya for ‘rubber’.

  K’o-chuq’ab Kabraqan is Maya for ‘Strong Earthquake’.

  K’o-chuq’ab Kiäqiq’ jab is Ke’kchi for ‘Strong Hurricane’.

  K’ojol is Maya for ‘son of male’.

  K’oy is Maya for the Spider Monkey, Ateles geqffroyi. They are regarded as the most intelligent New World monkeys.

  K’u Multun is Maya name for ‘Stacking Stone’ in the Caves of Naj Tunich.

  K’úum is Maya for ‘pumpkin’.

  K’uutz is Maya for ‘marijuana’.

  K’uxu’ is Maya for ‘annato’.

  Ka xi’ik teech utzil is Maya for ‘Good luck’. Literally, it means ‘May it go well with you’.

  Ka’ib’ is Maya for ‘two’.

  Kaab is Maya for ‘honey’.

  Kaab Ya’ax is Maya for ‘Green World’

  Kaanilha’ is Maya for ‘eel’.

  K’aay is Maya for ‘sing’.

  Kabraqan is Ke’kchi for ‘earthquake’.

  Kaj-rochoch is Maya for ‘woodpecker’.

  Kaka is Kriol for ‘excrement’.

  Kakaw is Maya for ‘cacao’.

  Kaloonte’ is an elite Warrior associated with the jaguar. He may be a hunter, or a nacon (officer), or a batab (war chief). Nabe means ‘first’. Kish’s name means ‘feathered’.

  Kaskas is Kriol and means to ‘Get along with’.

  Ke’eleen is Maya for ‘I’m cold’.

  Ke’l is Ke’kchi for comal; sh’mm’ch is the Mopan word. It is a smooth, flat metal plate typically used in Mexico and Central America to cook tortillas (kua), toast spices, sear meat, and generally prepare food.

  Kechelaj Jupuq is the word used for the hordes of Sisimito’s enchanted animals.

  Kechelaj Komon is the name used for the Jungle Folk in the Sisimito Series. These are creatures like Sisimito (Mahanamatz in Maya.), and Xtabai.

  Ki-che’ is Ke’kchi for the ‘maguey’ plant.

  Kiaqxop is Maya for ‘rattlesnake’.

  Ki-bix is Mopan Maya for ‘cowfoot vine’, Bauhinia herrerae (Britt. & Rose) Standl. & Steyerm. Another name is pata de vaca (Spanish). It is a woody vine growing up to 50 meters long and the leaves are shaped like a cow’s hoof giving rise to the common name. It is an old remedy for birth control used by Maya women.

  Kis is Maya for ‘excrement, animal dropping, shit’.

  Kitam is the White Collared Peccary, Pecari tajacu, a wild pig.

  Ko’one’ex is Maya for ‘Let’s go’.

  Ko’yem is a Maya corn drink.

  Koal seed is Kriol for ‘goose bumps’.

  Koatn is Kriol for ‘flirting’ or ‘courting’.

  Kohaw: This is a war helmet made of stone such as pyrite and worn only by an ajaw or a kaloonte’.

  Köj is Maya for ‘mountain lion’ or ‘puma’.

  Kolol (Ke’kchi Maya) is known in Belize as the Partridge. It is the Great Tinamou: Tinamus major. It is also known as Tinamú Grande, Norn, Ix Mancolol, and Ixkolool (Mopan Maya).

  Komon-winaq is the Maya noun for ‘meeting’.

  Kool is the Maya word for milpa. A milpa is a small field, especially in Mexico or Central America, that is cleared from the jungle, cropped for a few seasons, and then abandoned for a fresh clearing. Wahmil is secondary fresh-scrub growing on what was originally a milpa.

  Koolnáal is Maya for ‘milpero‘, one who farms a milpa, a small ‘slash and burn’ farm.

  Koropshan is Kriol for ‘pus’ or ‘corruption’.

  Kos is Maya for the Laughing Falcon, Herpetotheres cachinnam. Another name is Halcon Guaco.

  Koz is slang for ‘cousin’.

  Krus-be is Maya for ‘crossroads’.

  Kua is the Ke’kchi word for ‘tortilla’. The Mopan word is wah or waah. Another Maya word is lej.

  Kumätz is Maya for ‘snake’. Another word is kaan, not to be mistaken with Kaan which is the sky level of Yaxché.

  Kumum is the palm whose leaf is used as a broom to prepare the area in the river intended for fishing during the Maya traditional fishing vigil.

  Kungo owt a ya is Kriol for ‘Let’s go out of here.’

  Kus is Maya for a ‘quiver’ for arrows.

  Kuts is Maya for the Ocellated Turkey, Agriocharis ocellata, also called Guajolote, and Ucutz Ilchican. Belize is one of the last places in the world where it exists.

  La’j-tun is Ke’kchi for a ‘small drum’ used to dance at nighttime.

  Lachreen is Kriol for ‘latrine’ or ‘out-house’.

  Laiyad is Kriol for ‘telling a lie’.

  Lee bit is Kriol for ‘few’, but it is also a Kriol slang for the sexual act.

  Lej-xajäbs is Maya for ‘sandals’.

  Lika is Kriol for ‘liquor’.

  Lool is Maya for Rose.

  Maami is Kriol for ‘mamey’ or ‘mammy apple’, Pouteria sapota. It is known as sapote in Spanish.

  Mahanamatz is the Maya name for Sisimito. It is the word for a gorilla-like mythical animal.

  Mal Viento is Spanish for ‘bad/evil wind’.

  Mam Kutach is the Maya name for the Ursa Major constellation, the Big Dipper.

  Man-bwai is Kriol for a full-grown young man. It is usually used disparagingly.

  Maquahuitl: This weapon was a war club used to crush the enemy. The end was sometimes fitted with pieces of sharp obsidian. The maquahuitl was widely used.

  Masat is Ke’kchi for ‘deer’.

  Mata’m-apanoq is Ke’kchi for ‘later’.

  Matz is a sweet corn lab and is seasoned with beans to taste.

  Mayul is Maya for ‘fog, mist, haze’.

  Me’t is Ke’kchi for ‘tobacco’.

  Mes-bél is Ke’kchi Maya for chichibe (Mopan Maya), Sida rhombifolia L. Other names are escoba, and malva (Spanish).

  Metate is the corn grinding stone. They are made from volcanic stones and white sandstones. They last a lifetime and are commonly found in the earth, abandoned by the ancient Maya.

  Mictlan Chen is the Maya name for ‘Cave of the Underworld’.

  Mirador is Spanish for an elevated ‘viewpoint’ or ‘vantage point’ from which a scene can be observed.

  Miramar has its roots in the Spanish language. It is the union of two words, Mirar (to look at) and mar (the sea). The hill is named Miramar as one is able to see the sea from there.

  Mis is Mopan for Give-and-Take (Kriol), Cryosophila stauracantha. Another name is escoba (Spanish). Besides its medicinal uses, brooms (escoba) are made from young dried leaves tied together on a slender stick.

  Mixba’al is Maya for ‘nothing’.

  Moleet is Ke’kchi for the ‘mullet’ fish. It is mo’let in Mopan.

  Mutz is the Maya noun for’ cluster of stars’. It is also the name for the Pleiades Constellation.

  Muuch is Maya for ‘toad’.

  Naat is Kriol for the strong ‘north wind’. It usually refers to a cold front.

  Naba is the bark of the Copal tree.

  Nabac-cuc is the Maya name for the Allspice tree, Pimienta dioica.

  Nabe Atan is Maya for ‘First Wife’.

  Nabe is Maya for ‘First’.

  Nabe Patzoj is Maya for ‘First Coitus’.

  Nabeal is Maya for ‘firstborn’.r />
  Nabeal K’ojol is Maya for ‘firstborn son of a male’.

  Nabeal Mial is Maya for ‘firstborn daughter’.

  Nacon is Maya for ‘officer’. It is also the name of a God of War.

  Nah’ is Maya for ‘mother’.

  Nik’aj-q’ij is Maya for ‘midday’.

  Nim-ja’ Ti’ K’i’ik is the Maya name used for ‘River Of Blood’. Nim-ja’ is Maya for ‘river’, Ti’ for ‘with’, K’i’ik for ‘blood’.

  Nim-ja’ Ti’ Puh is the Maya name used for ‘River Of Pus’. Nim-ja’ is Maya for ‘river’, Ti’ for ‘with’, and Puh for ‘pus’.

  Nim-ja’ Ti’ Síina’ans is the Maya name used for ‘River of Scorpions’. Nim-ja’ is ‘river’, Ti’ is ‘with’, Síina’an is ‘scorpion’.

  Nim-q’ij is Maya for ‘Royal’, as in Royalty, Nobility, and the Elite.

  Nima-q’ij is the Maya noun for ‘holiday’ or ‘festival’.

  Nimal is Maya for ‘leader, chief, or boss’.

  Nof is Kriol for ‘enough’.

  Noh-il is Maya for ‘Greatness’.

  Nohoch Atz’am Ja’ is the Maya name used for ‘Great Salt Water’. In the Sisimito Series it refers to the Caribbean Sea.

  Nohoch Wíinik is Maya for ‘old man’. Choc uses Nohoch Wíinik as meaning ‘Father’.

  Nojinaq-ik’ is Ke’kchi for ‘full moon’.

  O’on is Maya for ‘iguana’.

  Oc is Maya for the King Vulture, Sacoramphus papa. It is also known as Carronero Rey, and Zopiloto Rey.

  Ol is the Maya name used for the rubber ball used in playing Pitz. The action of ‘play’ is called Ti Pitziil in Classical Maya and Chaaj in Ke’kchi.

  Olicuáhuitl is the Nahuatl (Aztec) word for the tree Castilla elastic, the Panama Rubber tree.

  Oxib is Maya for ‘three’.

  Páak’am is Maya for the cactus, ‘prickly pear’.

  Pa-al (Mopan), Solarium mdepannum Dunal, is also known as susumba

  (Spanish), and toom-pa’ap (Mopan).

  Paal is Maya for ‘son’; not to be confused with pa-al.

  Paap is Maya for the Brown Jay, Cyanocorax morio. It is also called Piam Piam, and Urarca Pea.

  Palitiks is Kriol for ‘polities’.