1. oamaxque, o, pret. am, you, axque, 2d pl. pret. from ay, to do.

octicatl, apparently an old form from octli, the intoxicating beverage prepared from the maguey.

oanquique, 2d pl. pret. from cui, to take.

ohuican, a place of difficulty and danger.  The frequent addition of the terminal o in this and the succeeding verses is merely euphonic.

2. teoatl tlachinolli; see note VI, 4.

in maquiztli tlazotetl, the beloved jewels, a phrase which indicates that the broken stones and splintered emeralds referred to are the young warriors who fall in battle, the pride of their parents’ hearts, who are destroyed in the fight.

The tizaoctli, white wine (tizatl, chalk, hence white, and octli, wine), referred to in this passage, is said by Sahagun to have been drunk especially at the feast of the god Papaztac, one of the many gods of the wine cup. Hist. de Nueva Espana.  Lib.  II, App.  Tezozomoc mentions it as handed to the mourners at funeral ceremonies. Cronica Mexicana, cap. 55.

3. xochitlalticpacilhtuicacpao; in this long compound of xochitl, flower, tlalti, earth, and ilhuicatl, sky, with various postpositions and the euphonic terminal o, the final pa gives the sense of location, towards, in the direction of.

chimalxochiti; “the shield flower,” the shield or buckler of the ancient warriors, ornamented with tassels and feathers, is not unaptly called the flower of war.

NOTES FOR SONG VIII.

The entire absence in this lament for the dead of any consolation drawn from Christian doctrines, points clearly to a date for its composition earlier than the teachings of the missionaries.  Its cry of woe is hopeless, and the title attributes its authorship to one of the old chieftains, tlatoani, who held the power before the Spaniard arrived.

1. quetzalhuahuaciuhtoque, from quetzalli, huaqui; in teintoque, the splinters; the same simile is employed in VII, 2.

2. ximoayan, see note to I, 8.  The occurrence of this term here and in verse 3 testifies to the fact of a composition outside of Christian influences.

NOTES FOR SONG IX.

The title does not necessarily mean that this song is a translation from the Otomi language, but merely that the time to which it was chanted was in the Otomi style; or, the term Otomi may have reference to the military officer so called.  The word is perhaps a compound of otli, path, and mitl, arrow.

The bard sings the vanity of earthly pleasures, and the reality of earthly pains; he exhorts himself and his hearers not to neglect the duties of religion, and lauds his own skill in song, which he compares to the sweet voices of melodious birds.  There is nothing in the poem which reflects European influence.