Appendix I
The Question of Orthography
Possibly the reader has noted in these pages a tendency toward inconsistency in the matter of spelling proper names. I do not deny that I have failed to avoid such inconsistency, but at the outset, after due thought on the matter, I decided that it is most difficult to try and lay down any hard and fast rule for the spelling of the proper names used in this book. In many cases it is utterly impossible to say “This is the correct spelling of this name.” To show just the nature of the sort of orthographical variations encountered in this work I give here most of the variants of the name Itza.
| Itza | usual modern form |
| Itzae | Maler, 1910, p. 168 |
| Itzaob | Brasseur de Bourbourg, 1858, vol. ii, p. 13 |
| Itzaex | Villagutierre Ytza Cogolludo and Avendaño |
| Ytzaex | Cogolludo and Avendaño |
| Ytzalana | Cogolludo and Avendaño |
| Yiza | On some church bells at Los Dolores (Morley) |
| Ahiza | Cano |
| Ahizaes | Cano |
| Taiza | Cortes, Lizana, 1893, p. 120 |
| Taitza | Brinton, 1882, p. 25 |
| Tayca | Gomara, 1826, vol. ii, p. 138 ff. |
| Ahitzaes | Jose Sanches de Leon, p. 146 |
| Ayasal | Garcia de Palacio (Gates-Bowditch photographed MS.) |
| Ayajal | Garcia de Palacio, 1860 (Squier), p. 96 |
| Yzues | Ottens Atlas, 1740; Sanson d’Abbeville, 1656 |
| Tavasal | M. Bonne M. de Mathem, 1771 |
| Tayasal | Maler; Bellin, 1764; Charnay, etc. |
| Iguastal | Abbé Mongez, 1779 |
| Laguastal | Popples’ map, about 1740 |
Many of the other proper names have variations just as confusing as these.