Note 226-2 — Chapter VIII
Reading edition
The French writers give for Great Spirit coyocopchill; Gallatin for hill, kweya koopsel. The blending of these two ideas, at first sight so remote, is easily enough explained when we remember that on “the hill of heaven” in all religions is placed the throne of the mightiest of existences. The Natchez word can be analyzed as follows: sel, sil, or chill, great; cop, a termination very frequent in their language, apparently signifying existence; kweya, coyo, for kue ya, from the Maya kue, god; the great living God. The Tarahumara language of Sonora offers an almost parallel instance. In it regui, is above, up, over, reguiki, heaven, reguiguiki, a hill or mountain (Buschmann, Spuren der Aztek. Sprache im nörd. Mexico, p. 244). In the Quiché dialects tepeu is lord, ruler, and is often applied to the Supreme Being. With some probability Brasseur derives it from the Aztec tepetl, mountain (Hist. du Mexique, i. p. 106).