ilhuicaatl.

Headword: 
ilhuicaatl.
Principal English Translation: 

the water (e.g., the sea) that connects with the sky; the sky is like a house, and the water is like walls; ilhuicaatl is a synonym of teoatl (see attestations)

Attestations from sources in English: 

"teuatl: injc mjtoa teuatl, camo teutl, çan qujtoznequj maviztic vei tlamaujçolli, ioan itoca ilhujcaatl...çan iuhqujnma calli, noviiampa tlacçaticac: auh itech acitoc in atl, iuhqujnma acaltechtli, itech motlatzoa...." [teoatl. inic mitoa teoatl, camo teotl, zan quitoznequi mahuiztic huei tlamahuizolli, ihuan itoca ilhuicaatl...zan iuhquinma calli, nohuiyampa tlaczaticac: auh itech acitoc in atl, iuhquinma acaltechtli, itech motlatzoa...." (SW) = "teuatl. It is called teuatl [sea], not that it is a god; it only means wonderful, a great marvel. And its name is ilhuicaatl...just like a house; it stood resting in every direction, and it extended reaching to the water. It was as if the water walls were joined to it...." (1570s, central Mexico)
Sahagún, Bernardino de, Antonio Valeriano, Alonso Vegerano, Martín Jacobita, Pedro de San Buenaventura, Diego de Grado, Bonifacio Maximiliano, Mateo Severino, et al. Historia general de las cosas de Nueva España (Florentine Codex), Ms. Mediceo Palatino 218–20, Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana, Florence, MiBACT, 1577. Available at Digital Florentine Codex/Códice Florentino Digital, edited by Kim N. Richter, Alicia Maria Houtrouw, Kevin Terraciano, Jeanette Peterson, Diana Magaloni, and Lisa Sousa, bk. 11, fol. 223r. Los Angeles: Getty Research Institute, 2023. https://florentinecodex.getty.edu/en/book/11/folio/223r?spTexts=&nhTexts= . Accessed 4 January 2026.