"Xbaquiyalo. The likely etymology of this name is x- (lady), baqi (bone), ya' (water/river), lo
(perhaps), yielding Lady Bone Water. Tedlock notes that in Yucatec, bak ha' (also “bone water”) is the snowy egret or snowy heron, and thus translates the name as “Egret Woman” (D. Tedlock 1996, 250 n. 91)."
There was some excitement early on about a possible connection of this snowy egret goddess with a divine lunar egret at Palenque. However, subsequent research has dispensed with Lady Egret as the name of the Triad Progenitor.
And there is a major problem with Tedlock's etymology, best summaried by Professor Simon Martin (via private communication):
"Christiansen’s suggestion that -lo is "perhaps" is not very grammatical and is not widely accepted. Possibly this is another K'iche'ized Western Mayan or even Nahuatl term. If is it indeed K'iche' the suggestion that a final vowel like -m or -w may have been lost is not unreasonable. Because Maya words end in consonants."
Because of all this, I would instead propose as an etymology for her name the standard 'Lady' (K'iche X-), plus bak(i) 'bone' (the /u/ being a relic of Spanish/Latin orthography) and the word for 'rain', itself a borrowing from another Mayan language. Examples in the Mayan languages show that y- often substitutes for h-.
For Classic Mayan, we now know that such a word for rain existed from early on:
https://www.mesoweb.com/resources/handbook/IMH2020.pdf
Ha’al and ha’ha’(al) are definite terms for ‘rain’
ha’al HA’-a-la HA’-la HA’AL ha’al ha’al ha’al n lit. “water-y” or “waterlike” but specifically refers to “rain” ha’ha’al HA’-HA’AL ha’-ha’al n lit. “water-rain” or “very rainy” refers specifically to the “rainy season”
From the various Mayan languages, the word for water can be spelled as follows. Note that 'yal' occurs fairly frequently:
http://www.famsi.org/reports/01051/pmed.pdf
pM *Ha7, *r-Ha7-aal WASw ja7 s agua // YUK ja7 /h/(m) s agua // [mq] LAK ja7 s agua // ITZ ja7 agua [OKMA] ITZ ja7 ri*o [OKMA] ITZ ja7 lluvia [OKMA] MOP ja7 agua [OKMA] EpM /ha7/ water pCh *ha7 s // water [K&N 140] CHR ja7 s agua // CHR ja7 agua [OKMA] CHT #ha s agua // [m] CHL ja7 s agua // TZO ho7 (weak h) s agua // [tk] TZE ha7 (weak h) s agua // [tk] TOJ ja7 s agua // CHJ ha7 s agua // CHJ ha7 agua [OKMA] QAN ha7 s agua // QAN hay-ej agua [OKMA] AKA ja7 agua [OKMA] AKA ja7 ri*o [OKMA] POP ha7 s agua, ri*o // POP ha7 agua [OKMA] MCH #ja7 s agua // [st] TEK a7 agua [OKMA] MAM a7 s agua // MAMt a7 agua [OKMA] MAMo a7 agua [OKMA] MAMc a7 agua [OKMA] MAMi a7 agua [OKMA] AWA a7; -a7a7l s agua // AWA a7 agua [OKMA] IXL a7 agua [OKMA] USP ja7 agua [OKMA] KCH ja7; u-wa7-aal s agua // [tk] KCHq ja7 agua [OKMA] KCHc ya7 agua [OKMA] KCHk ya agua [OKMA] KCHa ya7 s agua // [tk] SIP ya7 agua [OKMA] SIP ya7 ri*o [OKMA] SAK ya7 agua [OKMA] TZU ya7 agua [OKMA] KAQ ya"7 s agua // [tk] KAQp ya"7 agua [OKMA] KAQc ya7 agua [OKMA] KAQi ya7 agua [OKMA] PQMp ja7 agua [OKMA] PQMj ha7 agua [OKMA] PCH ha7 s agua // PCH ha7 agua [OKMA] QEQ ha7 agua [OKMA] QEQw ha7 s agua // QEQc&l ha7 agua // [TK71] QEQcah ha7 mollera // [TK71] QEQcah ha7al r-uh la*grimas // [TK71] QEQ ha7-al ruh la*grimas CHL ja7-al s lluvia // TZE ha7-al s lluvia //
"WATER of FACE" = tear(s); pM *r-Ha7-aal Haty ITZ ja7il uyich la*grimas [OKMA] CHR uya7ra nak'u7t la*grimas [OKMA] CHJ yal sat la*grimas [OKMA] QAN yal satej la*grimas [OKMA] AKA yaal sat la*grimas [OKMA] POP yal sute la*grimas [OKMA] TEK ta7l nwutz la*grimas [OKMA] MAMt tzaaj ta7l nwutz la*grimas [OKMA] MAMo ta7l twitz la*grimas [OKMA] MAMc ta7l qwutz la*grimas [OKMA] MAMi t'al witzb'aj la*grimas [OKMA] AWA ta7aal witzaj la*grimas [OKMA] IXL ta7lvatz la*grimas [OKMA] USP ra7l jb'aq'wich la*grimas [OKMA] KCHn uwa7l b'aq'wachaaj la*grimas [OKMA] KCHq uwa7l b'oq'ochaaj la*grimas [OKMA] KCHc uwa7al wachaaj la*grimas [OKMA] KCHk uwa7al uwach la*grimas [OKMA] SIP rya7l wochaj la*grimas [OKMA] SAK ya7l b'a7 wach la*grimas [OKMA] TZU ruya7aal wachaaj * la*grimas [OKMA] KAQp ruya7al wachaj la*grimas [OKMA] KAQc ruy'al runaq' wachaj la*grimas [OKMA] KAQi ruya7al wachaj la*grimas [OKMA] QEQ xya7al u la*grimas [OKMA] MOP k'a ich la*grimas [OKMA]
"WATER of MOUTH" = `drool'; pM *r-Ha7-aal tyii7 CHR uya7ra ti7 baba [OKMA] CHJ yal ti7 baba [OKMA] QAN yal tihej baba [OKMA] AKA yaal ti7eh baba [OKMA] POP yal ti7ch baba [OKMA] TEK ta7l ntzii7 baba [OKMA] MAMt ta7l ntzii7 baba [OKMA] AWA ta7al tzi7aj baba [OKMA] IXL ta7l tzi7 baba [OKMA] USP ra7l jchi7 baba [OKMA] SAK ya7l chi7eej baba [OKMA]
EM+GQ "WATER of BEE" = `honey'
CHJ yal chab' miel de abeja [OKMA]
QAN yal kab' miel de abeja [OKMA]
AKA yaal kab' miel de abeja [OKMA]
MAMi t'al wiinaq miel de abeja [OKMA]
IXL ta7l kab' miel de abeja [OKMA]
KCHc uwa7al kaab' miel de abeja [OKMA]
KCHk uwa7al kaab' miel de abeja [OKMA]
QEQ xya7al kab' miel de abeja [OKMA]
Hue "WATER of TIT" = `mother's milk' CHJ yal im leche de mujer [OKMA] QAN yal imej leche de mujer [OKMA] QAN yal imej leche (cualquiera) [OKMA] AKA yal imeh leche de mujer [OKMA] POP yal yim xo7 leche de mujer [OKMA] POP yal ime leche (cualquiera) [OKMA]
In Yucatecan, we find hail and haail for 'rain':
https://books.google.com/books?id=GdfCRh2nfN8C&pg=PA76&lpg=PA76&dq=ix+hail+yucatec&source=bl&ots=r-xrG2Ui_2&sig=ACfU3U1PEu1cmeeIVXGQBU-T-aQ4lPPJTw&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwitsIHGs_X0AhVfDjQIHZqdDNAQ6AF6BAgoEAM
https://www.academia.edu/25282797/Composition_and_Artistry_in_a_Classical_Yucatecan_Maya_Creation_Myth_Prehispanic_Ritual_Narratives_and_Their_Colonial_Transmission
hun uadz hail, hu[nJ lom haail 'one fetching of rain, one lancing of rain'.
https://books.google.com/books?id=8YfgCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA86&lpg=PA86&dq=%22haail%22%2B%22Chumayel%22&source=bl&ots=I0uniwByZg&sig=ACfU3U0-w1k4ykyHH3iMbit3jwZhTu7RoA&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwihqvCa6vX0AhXDCjQIHY0YD9wQ6AF6BAgJEAM#v=onepage&q=%22haail%22%2B%22Chumayel%22&f=false
I would, therefore, not hesitate to derive Xbaquiyalo from Ix, 'Lady', Bak(i), 'Bone', yal, 'Rain.' The terminal -o can really only be explained as yet another vestige of Spanish/Latin orthography.
As Lady Bone Rain, I would tentatively identify this goddess with Ix Chel. In the codices, the latter is portrayed as wearing a skirt adorned with crossed bones as she pours rain (and possibly the deluge) out of a jar. Here are images of Ix Chel from http://www.famsi.org/mayawriting/codices/dresden.html:
In Yucatec story, the goddesses Ix Bak, Ix Ha'il and Ix Chel appear to be identified (rough Google translation provided here from the source quoted below):
Then Ix Bak, the mother, to create the world, turns around, and transforms
in Kab, verlan de bak and projects his son K’in who becomes the first man.
But this one is alone and withered, he falls asleep and dreams of a wonderful
young girl enclosed in the trunk of the yaxche ’,“ first tree ”, the cheesemonger
(Ceiba pentadra). He immediately falls in love with her and she tells him
how to deliver it: you have to open the trunk with a stone. He wakes up, incises
the trunk and the wonderful maiden appears, X-ha’il, Sacred Water, Ipomeo (Dzul
Poot 1985), or Ix chel, Dame Arc-en-ciel in another version (Rosado
Vega 1934), who is none other than the (re) young mother. She gives K’in her
Rain body, he becomes Ah K’in Chak and falls in love with X-ha’il forever,
even if she leaves him periodically, forcing him to dream again to
renew his body of rain.
In this account of the creation of the world, Ix Bak, Lady Bone, Ix Ha'il, Lady Rain (not Lady Water) and Ix Chel, Lady Rainbow, are either interchangeable or may represent different aspects of the moon goddess. Ybaquiyalo, in my opinion, as a name merely combines Ix Bak and Ix Ha'il into one entity, Ix Bak Ha'il or Lady Bone Rain.
For my idea that Ix Chel is also called Xmucane/Lady Knotted Serpent in the POPOL VUH, see https://firstjaguaronelord.blogspot.com/2021/12/xmucane-as-knotted-serpent-alternative.html.
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