TSIMIN means in Mayan both "horse" and "tapir"; the word dates to at least Conquest times . . . Tapirs, or tsimins, are the distant relatives of horses; they belong to the same order, and the relation shows in their smooth, short hair and hoofed feet. Tapirs, though, have a hoof on each toe: three toes in the back and four in the front. (Victoria Schlesinger, Animals and Plants of the Ancient Maya: A Guide, p. 152)