Sanik

Conforme a la explicación del lingüista k'iche' Sam Colop (2008: 11) el nombre de las hormigas en el libro Popol Wuj representa un ejemplo de paranomasia o juego de palabras en el cual llaman "a las hormigas como chay sanik 'hormigas cortadoras'", y que eso pasa cuando "están en, Chayim ja, 'Casa de las obsidianas (que cortan).'" La otra forma de hormigas se llama ch'eken sanik o "hormigas ganadoras," pues Junajpu e Ixbalanke esperan ganar en Xib'alb'a. Estas conexiones lingüísticas proporcionan el vínculo importante entre los dos muchachos (k'a'ib k'ajolab') y el reino de los animales, tanto en la tierra como en otros planos de existencia.

K'iche' scholar Sam Colop (2008: 18) explains the subtle connection between the K'iche' term for ants (sanik) and the important roles that they play in the story. Perhaps most notably, in Xib'alb'a, the hero twins Junajpu and Ixbalanke call the ants that bring them flowers chay sanik or "cutting ants," perhaps inspired by the cutting House of Obsidian (Chayim ja) in which they were located at the time. The other variety of ants in Xib'alb'a are called "winning ants" (ch'eken sanik), perhaps inspired by what the boys hope to do -- triumph over the Lords of Xib'alb'a and instantiate a new kind of world for the future people of maize. In either case, the linguistic connections between the ants, as named by protagonists, and their functions in the story point to the deeper ways in which Junajpu and Ixbalanke are intimately connected to their world and the world below.