Note IX-82 — Chapter IX · GODS, SUPERNATURAL BEINGS, AND WORSHIP. (continued 2)

The name 'Tepopochuiliztli' signifies 'smoke or vapor.' As to the meaning of 'Toxcatl' writers are divided, Boturini interpreting it to mean 'effort,' and Torquemada 'a slippery place.' Acosta, Sahagun, and Gama agree, however, in accepting it as an epithet applied to a string of parched or toasted maize used in ceremonies to be immediately described, and Acosta further gives as its root signification 'a dried thing.' Consult, in addition to the references given in the note at the beginning of these descriptions of the feasts, Acosta, Hist. de las Ynd., p. 383; Kingsborough's Mex. Antiq., vol. vii., pp. 45-9; Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. iii., pp. 100-11.