The word for feathers in Maya is _kukum_; _kul_, in composition, means "very" or "much," as "_kulvinic_, muy hombre, hombre de respeto o hecho," _Diccionario de Motul_, MS.

_Ku_ is god, divinity.
For _can_ see chapter iv, Sec.1._Can_ was and still is a common surname in Yucatan.

(Berendt, _Nombres Proprios en Lengua Maya_, MS.) I should prefer to spell the name _Kukulkan_, and have it refer to the first day of the Maya week, _Kan_.] The reference probably was to the fame of this divinity as an oracle, as connected with the calendar.

But it is true that the name could with equal correctness be translated "The God, the Mighty Serpent," for can is a homonym with these and other meanings, and we are without positive proof which was intended.
To bring Kukulcan into closer relations with other American hero-gods we must turn to the locality where he was especially worshiped, to the traditions of the ancient and opulent city of Chichen Itza, whose ruins still rank among the most imposing on the peninsula.

The fragments of its chronicles, as preserved to us in the Books of Chilan Balam and by Bishop Landa, tell us that its site was first settled by four bands who came from the four cardinal points and were ruled over by four brothers.