cocoliztli.

Headword: 
cocoliztli.
Principal English Translation: 

pestilence, sickness, disease; an epidemic (especially with the intensifier, huey) (see Molina, Karttunen, and Lockhart); recent scientific studies of human remains from the sixteenth century are suggesting salmonella was responsible for the cocoliztli epidemics of ca. 1545 and 1576 (see the work of Johannes Krause of the Max Planck Institute and a publication by Ewen Calloway)

Orthographic Variants: 
cocolistli, cocolliztli, concoliztli
IPAspelling: 
kokolistɬi
Alonso de Molina: 

cocoliztli. enfermedad o pestilencia.
Alonso de Molina, Vocabulario en lengua castellana y mexicana y mexicana y castellana, 1571, part 2, Nahuatl to Spanish, f. 23v. col. 2. Thanks to Joe Campbell for providing the transcription.

Frances Karttunen: 

COCOLIZ-TLI illness, disease / enfermedad o pestilencia See COCOY(A).
Frances Karttunen, An Analytical Dictionary of Nahuatl (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1992), 39.

Lockhart’s Nahuatl as Written: 

-tech motlalia cocoliztli, literally for an illness to settle upon one, to contract an illness. related to cocoya, to be sick.
James Lockhart, Nahuatl as Written: Lessons in Older Written Nahuatl, with Copious Examples and Texts (Stanford: Stanford University Press and UCLA Latin American Studies, 2001), 215.

Attestations from sources in English: 

Auh yoan in titlacaoan qujtoaia, ca no iehoatl in qujtemacaia in netolinjliztli, in cococ teupouhquj: yoan tetech qujtlaliaia, ic temotlaia in cocoliztli, in vey, in ouj, in teucocoliztli, in nanaoatl, in tlanquaalaualiztli, in qualocatl, in xiiotl, in xochiciuiztli, in quexiliujliztli, in xoteuconaujliztli: yoan in oc cequj cuculiztli = And also they said of Titlacauan that he gave woe and affliction. And men he burdened and scourged with plagues which were great and grave—leprosy, boils, dropsy, cancers, the itch, haemorrhoids, piles, chilblains, and other sicknesses (central Mexico, sixteenth century)
Fr. Bernardino de Sahagún, Florentine Codex: General History of the Things of New Spain; Book 3 -- The Origin of the Gods, Part IV, 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, 1978), 11.

"This plague began in the month of June 1576, and was still not over in January, when we wrote this description." (Central Mexico, 1571–1615)
The Mexican Treasury: The Writings of Dr. Francisco Hernández, ed. Simon Varey, transl. Rafael Chabrán, Cynthia L. Chamberlin, and Simon Varey (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2000), 84.

"The fevers were contagious, burning, and continuous, entirely pestilential, and in a great many cases, lethal. The tongue dried out and turned black. Intense thirst, sea-green urine, or vegetable green and black, but from time to time the color would change from deep green to pale." (Central Mexico, 1571–1615)
The Mexican Treasury: The Writings of Dr. Francisco Hernández, ed. Simon Varey, transl. Rafael Chabrán, Cynthia L. Chamberlin, and Simon Varey (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2000), 83.

1546 Nican ypan xihuitl yn omochiuh huey cocolistli = 1546 Here in this year a great epidemic occurred
Here in This Year: Seventeenth-Century Nahuatl Annals of the Tlaxcala-Puebla Valley, ed. and transl. Camilla Townsend, with an essay by James Lockhart (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2010), 72–73.

Auh in aiamo totech moquetza in Españoles: achtopa momanaco vei cocoliztli = Before the Spaniards appeared to us, first an epidemic broke out (Mexico City, sixteenth century)
James Lockhart, We People Here: Nahuatl Accounts of the Conquest of Mexico, Repertorium Columbianum v. 1 (Los Angeles: UCLA Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies, 1993), 180.

macatle tlein mitzmauhti, mitztequipacho macamo quen mochihua in mix in moyollo, macamo xiquimacaci in cocoliztli, manoçe oc itlà cocoliztli cococ teòpouhqui = Nothing whatever should frighten you or worry you. Do not be concerned, do not fear the illness, or any other illness or calamity. (Mexico City, 1649)
James Lockhart, Nahuatl as Written: Lessons in Older Written Nahuatl, with Copious Examples and Texts (Stanford: Stanford University Press and UCLA Latin American Studies, 2001), 204.

huei cocoliztli in itech omotlali ca yeppa ic momiquiliz = A great illness has come upon him, of which he will soon die (Mexico City, 1649)
James Lockhart, Nahuatl as Written: Lessons in Older Written Nahuatl, with Copious Examples and Texts (Stanford: Stanford University Press and UCLA Latin American Studies, 2001), 204.

peuhqui cocolistli ypan mayanalistli =An epidemic began in the time of famine
Here in This Year: Seventeenth-Century Nahuatl Annals of the Tlaxcala-Puebla Valley, ed. and transl. Camilla Townsend, with an essay by James Lockhart (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2010), 168–169.

A long discussion about how one community responded to an epidemic (cocolistli) and tried to catch up when they got in arrears with the tributes appears in a testament from Zempoala (near Tepozotlan) said to date from 1610, but perhaps really dating from around 1703 and pertaining to the Techialoyan genre.
Vidas y bienes olvidados: Testamentos en náhuatl y castellano del siglo XVII, vol. 3, Teresa Rojas Rabiela, et al, eds. (México: CIESAS, 2002), 84–85.

otopan muchiuh anozo otopan onquiz: in iuhqui teuatl, tlachinolli: quitoznequi: cocoliztli, anozo uel yehoatl in yaoyotl = They said: Divine liquid and fire have overcome us, have swept over us. This means pestilence or war itself.
Thelma D. Sullivan, "Nahuatl Proverbs, Conundrums, and Metaphors, Collected by Sahagún," Estudios de Cultura Náhuatl 4 (1963), 146–147.

In ye imecac, in ye iquauic in totecuyo, in zan ticamatlalpul, in zan tixtlalpul. Inin tlatolli itech mocaqui in cocoliztli
Thelma D. Sullivan, "Nahuatl Proverbs, Conundrums, and Metaphors, Collected by Sahagún," Estudios de Cultura Náhuatl 4 (1963), 160–161.

In atl itztic, in atl ceccec topan quichioa in totecuyo. Inin tlatolli, itechpa mitoa: in iquac itla topan quimuchiuilia in totecuyo. = Our Lord dashes cold water, icy water upon us. This is said when our Lord causes some misfortune to happen to us.
Thelma D. Sullivan, "Nahuatl Proverbs, Conundrums, and Metaphors, Collected by Sahagún," Estudios de Cultura Náhuatl 4 (1963), 164–165.

Attestations from sources in Spanish: 

ahocmo onacohuan ynic netoco hueycan teopan ça Quaquauhxiuhtla netococ huel tlatla y tlacactl xolalpan yhuan tzauhcan santsantopan yhuan tliltique çaça mochi tlacatl. Huey cocoliztl quiçaco mochi tlacatl miqui. = no hubo lugar para enterrar a la gente en el templo grande, sólo se enterraron en Quaquauhxiuhtla. Se acabaron del todo las personas de los sólares, los obrajes y en las ermitas Y de los negros todas las personas [murieron]. Llegó una gran peste. Murieron todas las personas. (Tlaxcala, 1662–1692)
Juan Buenaventura Zapata y Mendoza, Historia cronológica de la Noble Ciudad de Tlaxcala, transcripción paleográfica, traducción, presentación y notas por Luis Reyes García y Andrea Martínez Baracs (Tlaxcala y México: Universidad Autónoma de Tlaxcala, Secretaría de Extensión Universitaria y Difusión Cultural, y Centro de Investigaciones y Estudios Superiores en Antropología Social, 1995), 258–259.

yhuan huey cocoliztli mochiuh huel tlatlamahuac motzatzacuic cali yhuan mochi mique Atepan tlaca = Y se produjo una peste, hubo gran anquilamiento, se cerraron las casas. Y murieron todas las personas de Atepan. (Tlaxcala, 1662–1692)
Juan Buenaventura Zapata y Mendoza, Historia cronológica de la Noble Ciudad de Tlaxcala, transcripción paleográfica, traducción, presentación y notas por Luis Reyes García y Andrea Martínez Baracs (Tlaxcala y México: Universidad Autónoma de Tlaxcala, Secretaría de Extensión Universitaria y Difusión Cultural, y Centro de Investigaciones y Estudios Superiores en Antropología Social, 1995), 254–255.

huey cocoliztl quiçaco = Llegó una gran epidemia (Tlaxcala, 1662–1692)
Juan Buenaventura Zapata y Mendoza, Historia cronológica de la Noble Ciudad de Tlaxcala, transcripción paleográfica, traducción, presentación y notas por Luis Reyes García y Andrea Martínez Baracs (Tlaxcala y México: Universidad Autónoma de Tlaxcala, Secretaría de Extensión Universitaria y Difusión Cultural, y Centro de Investigaciones y Estudios Superiores en Antropología Social, 1995), 172–173.

ipanpa huel ye notech aqui yn cocolitzintli = por hallarme enfermo de tabardillo (San Cristóbal Ecatepec, 1634)
Vidas y bienes olvidados: Testamentos en náhuatl y castellano del siglo XVII, vol. 3, Teresa Rojas Rabiela, et al, eds. (México: CIESAS, 2002), 196–197.

yn iquac cocollizpan = en tiempos de la enfermedad
Vidas y bienes olvidados: Testamentos indígenas novohispanos, vol. 1, Testamentos en castellano del siglo XVI y en náhuatl y castellano de Ocotelulco de los siglos XVI y XVII, eds. Teresa Rojas Rabiela, Elsa Leticia Rea López, y Constantino Medina Lima (Ocotelulco, Tlaxcala, 1597), 312–313.

tlein cocoliztli motechca = que mal sientes
Pedro de Arenas, Vocabulario Manual de las Lenguas Castellana, y Mexicana (Mexico: Henrico Martínez, 1611), 2.

cuix onca cocolliztli = [h]ay enfermedades
Pedro de Arenas, Vocabulario Manual de las Lenguas Castellana, y Mexicana (Mexico: Henrico Martínez, 1611), 10.yc techmopalehuilia çen ca miyac tlamantli yca cocoliztli yhuan totlayyohuiliz ypan yhuan tomin = Esto nos ayuda mucho con el asunto del cocoliztli y nuestra preocupación con el dinero. (Tetzcoco, 1605)
Benjamin Daniel Johnson, “Transcripción de los documentos Nahuas de Tezcoco en los Papeles de la Embajada Americana resguardados en el Archivo Histórico de la Biblioteca Nacional de Antropología e Historia de México”, en Documentos nahuas de Tezcoco, Vol. 1, ed. Javier Eduardo Ramírez López (Texcoco: Diócesis de Texcoco, 2018), 134–135.

IDIEZ morfema: 
cocoliztli.
IDIEZ traduc. inglés: 
sickness, illness.
IDIEZ def. náhuatl: 
Tlamantli axcualli tlen quimahua itlacayo macehualli, tlahpiyalli zo tecuani huan quichihua ma pehua mococoa. “Naman oncah cocoliztli tlen piyomeh chan Carolina, yeca micticateh. ”
IDIEZ morfología: 
cocoā1, liz.
IDIEZ gramática: 
tlat.