(a loanword from Spanish)
church
tonantz̄in sancta yglesia = our mother the holy Church (central Mexico, early seventeenth century)
"Santa iglesia" was a fairly common loanword in colonial Nahuatl. Alva's guide to confession uses it 10 times out of 260 total loanword appearances of various kinds. The percentages of appearances of certain loans in Alva are very consistent with Chimalpahin, who also wrote in the seventeenth century.
"Through most of the text the word for cathedral is iglesia mayor, main church, which Spaniards in all parts of the Indies had used in that sense up to this time. But in the last part of the text the loanword catedral appears, and after a brief transition it becomes predominant, surely reflecting the fact that the Spanish comunity of that time was adopting the more specific and pretentious word."
ca yoqui techmonahuatiLia sancta ecLesea yhuan teopixquime saserdotis = thus the holy church and the priestly minister admonish us (Zacualco/Tzacualco, 1629)
nehual nifiscal de la madre santi yglesia = I am the fiscal of the holy mother church (Santa María de la Asunción, Toluca Valley, 1758)
teopan yglesia yxpan crucifixo tecalco (Tlaxcala, 1566)
15 pos 2 to quihuiquilia huey yglesia yhuan ce caxa yyaxca sancto sacramento (Jalostotitlan, Jalisco, 1611)
santa yglexia (San Juan Tolcayuca, Hidalgo)
fisCal de Sata gelessia = fiscal of the holy church (San Pablo Tepemaxalco, Toluca Valley, 1736)
la santa mader gelesian = the holy mother church (San Lucas, Evangelista, Toluca Valley, 1759)
in oncan quiҫaz yn intlaqual teopixque yvan in tlein monequi yglesia yvan in ilhuitlipan in tlein monequi anoҫo altepetl ytech monequi ca nel yc mitova altepetl i yaxca = de ahí saldrá la comida de los padres; lo que se necesita en la iglesia y en las fiestas; lo que sea necesario o se requiera para el pueblo; ya que de verdad por esto se le nombra propiedad del pueblo. (Cuauhtinchan, Puebla, s. XVI)
ma ymochihua yn santa ylecia = se haga en la santa iglesia (San Juan Teotihuacan, 1563)
nitlanauatia centetl nocavallo quinamacazque yn quen ipatiuh ma yuh oquicuizque santa ygresia monequiz = tengo un caballo, que lo vendan y de su valor que tome de lo que se necesite en la santa iglesia (Santa Agueda, sin fecha)
yhuan quitlatoctique ynic pilca quahuitl tepozmecatl yni quitecuixque oca quicema yn itequi ynic tlatequipanohua Santa cleçia = Y para asegurarla a la viga donde cuelga, la liaron con cables de metal. Con ella señalan la labor que es el trabajo de la Santa Iglesia (Tlaxcala, 1662–1692)