the Chaldean Venus, of the etymology of whose name no satisfactory
account can be given, says the learned author, whose list I am following
and description quoting.
The Maya language, however, affords a very natural etymology. Her name
seems composed of _ix_, the feminine article, _she_; and of _tac_, or
_tal_, a verb that signifies to have a desire to satisfy a corporal want
or inclination. IXTAL would, therefore, be she who desires to satisfy a
corporal inclination. As to her other name, _Nana_, it simply means the
great mother, the very mother. If from the names of god and goddesses,
we pass to that of places, we will find that the Maya language also
furnishes a perfect etymology for them.
In the account of the creation of the world, according to the Chaldeans,
we find that a woman whose name in Chaldee is _Thalatth_, was said to
have ruled over the monstrous animals of strange forms, that were
generated and existed in darkness and water. The Greek called her
_Thalassa_ (the sea). But the Maya vocable _Thallac_, signifies a thing
without steadiness, like the sea.