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Axayacatl.

Headword: 
Axayacatl.
Principal English Translation: 

an insect that lives on the water
Gran Diccionario Náhuatl, citing Wimmer 2004, "zoologie, mouche aquatique dont les oeufs entraient dans la préparation de l''âhuauhtli'." https://gdn.iib.unam.mx/diccionario/axayacatl/41304.

a personal name; e.g. a late fifteenth-century ruler of Mexico-Tenochtitlan who expanded the empire considerably; his father was Huehue Tezozomoctli; he bore two sons, Moteuczoma Xocoyotl and Macuilmalinaltzin (central Mexico, seventeenth century)
Codex Chimalpahin: Society and Politics in Mexico Tenochtitlan, Tlatelolco, Culhuacan, and Other Nahuatl Altepetl in Central Mexico; The Nahuatl and Spanish Annals and Accounts Collected and Recorded by don Domingo de San Antón Muñón Chimalpahin Quauhtlehuanitzin, eds. and transl. Arthur J. O. Anderson and Susan Schroeder (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1997), vol. 2, 96–97.

Moteuczoma Xocoyotl also named one of his sons Axayacatl (so this Axayacatzin was a grandson of the first one); this younger Axayacatl was killed in his youth (central Mexico, seventeenth century)
Codex Chimalpahin: Society and Politics in Mexico Tenochtitlan, Tlatelolco, Culhuacan, and Other Nahuatl Altepetl in Central Mexico; The Nahuatl and Spanish Annals and Accounts Collected and Recorded by don Domingo de San Antón Muñón Chimalpahin Quauhtlehuanitzin, eds. and transl. Arthur J. O. Anderson and Susan Schroeder (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1997), vol. 2, 86–87.

Another man who took this name was don Francisco Axayacatzin, son of don Francisco de Guzmán Omacatzin, ruler of Ollac Xochimilco. (central Mexico, seventeenth century)
Codex Chimalpahin: Society and Politics in Mexico Tenochtitlan, Tlatelolco, Culhuacan, and Other Nahuatl Altepetl in Central Mexico; The Nahuatl and Spanish Annals and Accounts Collected and Recorded by don Domingo de San Antón Muñón Chimalpahin Quauhtlehuanitzin, eds. and transl. Arthur J. O. Anderson and Susan Schroeder (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1997), vol. 2, 98–99.

Axayaca, son of Moteucçcoma Xocoyotl and his wife (whose name Chimalpahin could not remember) who was the daughter of Ahuitzotzin, was killed when only a youth. (central Mexico, seventeenth century)
Codex Chimalpahin: Society and Politics in Mexico Tenochtitlan, Tlatelolco, Culhuacan, and Other Nahuatl Altepetl in Central Mexico; The Nahuatl and Spanish Annals and Accounts Collected and Recorded by don Domingo de San Antón Muñón Chimalpahin Quauhtlehuanitzin, eds. and transl. Arthur J. O. Anderson and Susan Schroeder (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1997), vol. 1, 154–155.

Orthographic Variants: 
Axayacatzin, Axaiaca, Axayaca, Axaiacatzin
Attestations from sources in English: 

See an image that represents Axayacatl in the Visual Lexicon of Aztec Hieroglyphs, ed. Stephanie Wood (Eugene, Ore.: Wired Humanities, 2020-present).

Auh yn omotocateneuh tlahtohuani Axayacatzin oquinchiuh omentin ypilhuan ynic ce ytoca Moteuhcçoma xocoyotl. huey tlahtohuani ypan acico yn españolesme ynin yehuatl quinnamic ynic ome ypilhuan axayacatzin ytoca cuetlahuatzin achtopa tlahtohuani catca yn ompa ytztapallapan auh çatepan çan nauhpohualilhuitl yn ontlahtocatico nican tenochtitlan yn oyuh momiquilli ytiachcauhtzin Moteuhcçomatzin xocoyotl. = And the aforenamed ruler Axayacatzin begot two sons. The first was named Moteucçoma Xocoyotl, the great ruler. The Spaniards arrived in his time; he received them. The second of Axayacatzin's sons was named Cuitlahuatzin. At first he was ruler of Itztapalapan, but later he was ruler of Tenochtitlan for only eighty days, and his elder brother Moteucçomatzin Xocoyotl had died. (central Mexico, early seventeenth century)
Codex Chimalpahin: Society and Politics in Mexico Tenochtitlan, Tlatelolco, Culhuacan, and Other Nahuatl Altepetl in Central Mexico; The Nahuatl and Spanish Annals and Accounts Collected and Recorded by don Domingo de San Antón Muñón Chimalpahin Quauhtlehuanitzin, eds. and transl. Arthur J. O. Anderson and Susan Schroeder (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1997), vol. 2, 78–79.

Auh yn oc ce omotocateneuh yn ipiltzin acamapichtli tlahtohuani tenochtitlan. yn itoca ytzcohuatzin. ynin çan no tlahtohuani tenochtitlan. ynin quichiuh ce ypiltzin ytoca Teçoçomoctli. ynin tlahtocapillo. quin icel yuhqui ytoca mochiuh ynin tocaytl yn nican tenochtitlan. auh ynin omotocateneuh teçoçomoctli. ayc otlahtocat. yn tenochtitlan çan tlaçopilli catca. auh yehuatl oquinchiuhtia yn eyntin tlahtoque. tenochtitlan. ynic ce ytoca tiçocic. ynic ome ytoca Ahuitzotl. yniquey ytoca Axayaca ynin ça xocoyotl. auh ye achto yn otlahtocat. auh çate yn otlahtocatque yn omotocateneuhque ytiachcahuan yn tiçocic yhuan Ahuitzotl. = And another aforenamed son of Acamapichtli, ruler of Tenochtitlan, was named Itzcoatzin. He also was ruler of Tenochtitlan. He begot a son named Teçoçomoctli. He was a great lord. His name later became a unique name here in Tenochtitlan, [for] this aforenamed Teçoçomoctli was never ruler of Tenochtitlan; he was only a highborn nobleman; but he begot three rulers of Tenochtitlan. The first was named Tiçocic. The second was named Ahuitzotl. The third was named Axayaca; he was the youngest, but he was the first to be ruler, and afterward his aforenamed elder brothers Tiçocic and Ahuitzotl were rulers. (central Mexico, early seventeenth century)
Codex Chimalpahin: Society and Politics in Mexico Tenochtitlan, Tlatelolco, Culhuacan, and Other Nahuatl Altepetl in Central Mexico; The Nahuatl and Spanish Annals and Accounts Collected and Recorded by don Domingo de San Antón Muñón Chimalpahin Quauhtlehuanitzin, eds. and transl. Arthur J. O. Anderson and Susan Schroeder (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1997), vol. 2, 78–79.

Axaiaca ic chicoacen tlatocat in tenochtitlan: matlacxiuitl ipã nauhxiuitl. = Axayacatl was the sixth, and ruled Tenochtitlan fourteen years. (central Mexico, sixteenth century)
Fr. Bernardino de Sahagún, Florentine Codex: General History of the Things of New Spain; Book 8 -- Kings and Lords, no. 14, Part IX, eds. and transl. Arthur J. O. Anderson and Charles E. Dibble (Santa Fe and Salt Lake City: School of American Research and the University of Utah, 1951), 2.

iij. calli xihuitl 1469 años. ypan in motlahtocatlalli yn tlacatl axayacatzin tlahtohuani tenochtitlan = The year Three House, 1469. At this time the lord Axayacatzin was installed as ruler of Tenochtitlan. (central Mexico, early seventeenth century)
Codex Chimalpahin: Society and Politics in Mexico Tenochtitlan, Tlatelolco, Culhuacan, and Other Nahuatl Altepetl in Central Mexico; The Nahuatl and Spanish Annals and Accounts Collected and Recorded by don Domingo de San Antón Muñón Chimalpahin Quauhtlehuanitzin, eds. and transl. Arthur J. O. Anderson and Susan Schroeder (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1997), vol. 1, 134–135.

1481. 2. calli xihuitl. ypan in momiquillico yn tlacatl Axayacatzin tlahtohuani tenuchtitlan = 1481, Two House. At this time the lord Axayacatzin, ruler of Tenochtitlan died. (central Mexico, early seventeenth century)
Codex Chimalpahin: Society and Politics in Mexico Tenochtitlan, Tlatelolco, Culhuacan, and Other Nahuatl Altepetl in Central Mexico; The Nahuatl and Spanish Annals and Accounts Collected and Recorded by don Domingo de San Antón Muñón Chimalpahin Quauhtlehuanitzin, eds. and transl. Arthur J. O. Anderson and Susan Schroeder (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1997), vol. 2, 34–35.

¶ iij. calli xihuitl. 1469. ypan in motlahtocatlalli yn tlacatl axayacatzin tlahtohuani tenchtitlan yn ipiltzin huehue teçoçomoctli tlahtocapilli Tenochtitlan yn tlahtocat. 13. xivitl = the year Three House, 1469. At this time the lord Azayacatzin was installed as ruler of Tenochtitlan. (central Mexico, early seventeenth century)
Codex Chimalpahin: Society and Politics in Mexico Tenochtitlan, Tlatelolco, Culhuacan, and Other Nahuatl Altepetl in Central Mexico; The Nahuatl and Spanish Annals and Accounts Collected and Recorded by don Domingo de San Antón Muñón Chimalpahin Quauhtlehuanitzin, eds. and transl. Arthur J. O. Anderson and Susan Schroeder (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1997), vol. 1, 214, 215.

¶ 2. calli xihuitl, 1481 ypan momiquillico yn tlacatl axayacatzin tlahtohuani tenochtitlan yn ipiltzin huehue teçoçomoctli tlahtocapilli tenochtitlan yn tlahtocat. 13. xivitl = The year Two House, 1481. At this time the lord Axayacatzin, ruler of Tenochtitlan, died. He was a son of Huehue Teçoçomoctli, a great lord of Tenochtitlan. He had ruled for thirteen years. (central Mexico, early seventeenth century)
Codex Chimalpahin: Society and Politics in Mexico Tenochtitlan, Tlatelolco, Culhuacan, and Other Nahuatl Altepetl in Central Mexico; The Nahuatl and Spanish Annals and Accounts Collected and Recorded by don Domingo de San Antón Muñón Chimalpahin Quauhtlehuanitzin, eds. and transl. Arthur J. O. Anderson and Susan Schroeder (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1997), vol. 1, 214, 215.

¶ iij calli xihuitl 1469 años. ypan in motlahtocatlalli axayacatzin tlahtohuani tenuchtitlan = The year Three House, 1469. At this time Axayacatzin was installed as ruler of Tenochtitlan. (central Mexico, early seventeenth century)
Codex Chimalpahin: Society and Politics in Mexico Tenochtitlan, Tlatelolco, Culhuacan, and Other Nahuatl Altepetl in Central Mexico; The Nahuatl and Spanish Annals and Accounts Collected and Recorded by don Domingo de San Antón Muñón Chimalpahin Quauhtlehuanitzin, eds. and transl. Arthur J. O. Anderson and Susan Schroeder (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1997), vol. 1, 234, 235.

ynic caxtollonce ytoca axayacatzin tlahtohuani = the 16th was named Axayacatzin, ruler (central Mexico, 1608–1609?)
Annals of His Time: Don Domingo de San Antón Muñón Chimalpahin Quauhtlehuanitzin, James Lockhart, Susan Schroeder, and Doris Namala, eds. and transl. (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2006), 146–147.

1611 años yhquac momiquilli. yn itztapallapan cihuapilli. Doña Balbara. ychpochtzin. catca yn tlahtohuani Don Alonso Axayaca yxhuetzcatocatzin = the year 1611, was when the noblewoman of Iztapalapa doña Bárbara passed away; she was the daughter of the ruler don Alonso Axayaca Ixhuetzcatocatzin (central Mexico, 1611)
Annals of His Time: Don Domingo de San Antón Muñón Chimalpahin Quauhtlehuanitzin, James Lockhart, Susan Schroeder, and Doris Namala, eds. and transl. (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2006), 176–177.

Attestations from sources in Spanish: 

AXAYACATZIN ixiuhtzon ixiuhyacamiuh ixiuhtilma techilnahuayo itepotzoicpal = AXAYACATZIN, su diadema de turquesas, su nariguera de turquesa como flecha, su manta color turquesa, festón rojo en la orilla, su asiento con espaldar (centro de México, s. XVI)
Víctor M. Castillo F., "Relación Tepepulca de los señores de México Tenochtitlan y de Acolhuacan," Estudios de Cultura Náhuatl 11 (1974), 183–225, y ver la pág. 198—199.

Axayacatzin: Es, gráfica y literalmente, "Cara de agua", pero también el nombre de cierta "mosca palustre que tiene faz acuosa" estimada como alimento, tanto como sus huevos llamados ahuauhtli Víctor M. Castillo F., "Relación Tepepulca de los señores de México Tenochtitlan y de Acolhuacan," Estudios de Cultura Náhuatl 11 (1974), 183–225, y ver la pág. 190.

"...el dicho Axayacatl tiránicamente y con violencia usurpó algunos pedazos de tierra a Cachimaltzin Rey de Toluca y esto quiso el dicho Marqués del Valle venido que fue a esta tierra como capitán general y justicia mayor que fue de ella y lo restituyó al dicho Cachimaltzin dejándolo en su quieta y pacífica posesión...." (Toluca, 1603)
Rosaura Hernández Rodríguez, Toluca, 1603: vista de ojos (1997), 126.

auh yn Axaiacatzin niman ye conita tonatiuh: aiamo quenma, ca zan achto yn ocan tocac ttonatiuh yn oquinpopolo tlatilulca otlalpoloto = Luego Axayacatzin miró [hacia] el sol; hasta entonces no [se había] visto, sólo apereció el sol cuando ya [Axayácatl] había vencido y derrotado a los tlatelolcas. (Mexico City, c. 1572)
Ana Rita Valero de García Lascuráin and Rafael Tena, Códice Cozcatzin (México: Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia, Benemérita Universidad Autónoma de Puebla, 1994), 104.

themes: 
Politics, Power, Governance