a ridge, a furrow, an agricultural row, and therefore a unit of measure of land; one pantli was one furrow; see also cempantli); also, pantli is sometimes equated with panitl and pamitl, a flag or banner, sometimes worn as a device with various shapes on a person's back and with a significance relating to sacrificial offerings; see also Papan, a name for both men and women, which appears to be the reduplication of the root of pantli or pamitl; see also -tecpantli, from the verb tecpana, to put in order or line up (which is what the flag signalled, for 20 people to form a line); hence, some also equate the pantli with 20, cempohualli
Visually, the tecpantli in Nahuatl hieroglyphs is a flag or banner, but should be seen as a number or a reference to a row, line, etc., of things that are counted. As Gordon Whittaker explains (Deciphering Aztec Hieroglyphs (2021), this flag is not to be confused with panitl, or pamitl (in Tetzcoco), and never simply pantli.
ompantli yn notlal = two strips of my land (Coyoacan, 1575)
ypantoyaval = his flag that hangs forward [on his head] (central Mexico, sixteenth century)
itonalopan = his flag with the sun symbol (central Mexico, sixteenth century)
y amoxcuitlac matlactetl onahui cecenpoalpatli = in Amoxcuitlac there are 14 (chinampas) of 20 rows each (Culhuacan, sixteenth century)
Pantli = a man's name (Cuernavaca region, ca. 1540s)
yey pātli = three measures called "pantli" — Lockhart felt that the coefficient of three suggested that a pantli was a "set unit" (Tulancingo, September 9, 1657)
yn tlalli tlacopantl ypan icac cacahuatl (a parcel [measuring] half a pantli upon which stands cacao?); this sold for 4 pesos and 4 tomines or reales; it was sold by a humble indigenous person to a Spaniard; also attested is "tlahcopatli" (referring to half a pantli, apparently); this last one sold for 4 pesos and 4 tomines or reales; it was also sold by a humble indigenous person to a Spaniard; and we see "tlaltotl tlacopatl" (perhaps a small parcel, half a pantli); this sold for 6 pesos; it was also sold by a humble indigenous person to a Spaniard (Tulancingo, November 3, 1687 and October 7, 1687)
marcos pantli (Tepetlaoztoc, sixteenth century)
Panitl, represented visually, could also stand (phonetically) for the name Huanitzin.
Pamitl (with the m) was the variation preferred on "the northern and eastern flanks of the Valley of Mexico" [e.g. Tetzcoco).
It is important not to confuse pantli (1) with tecpantli (20): yc centecpantli tlatlaque = making twenty that burned; and: yetecpantli onchiuhcnahui tlacatl = 69 people (early seventeenth century, central New Spain)
Pantli, Panitl, Pamitl = bandera, estandarte
yn metzitzinti yn nican quiahuac ca cacaxtolpantli = los magueyes que están afuera se componen de quince ringleras (Cuautitlan, Tepozotlan, 1639)
oniccauh chiquacen pantli yehuatzin quimochiuilia señor don Miguel Alexandrino gobernador yhuan centlacol quimochiuiliaya señor don Juan = compré seis pantles, que hacía el señor don Miguel Alexandrino, gobernador y la otra mitad sembraba el señor don Juan (Tulancingo, 1572)
onpantli chinamitl yn opa temi Tlaçoloztoc cecenpohual cuemitl mamacuilte patlahuac ye Mexicopa itçtitemi = dos camellones que están e son en Tlazaloztoc, de cada veinte brazas en largo y cinco de ancho, que enderezan hacia México (San Juan Teotihuacan, 1563)
Se emplea en estos documentos (del siglo XVI de Tlaxcala) para medir el número de surcos de un campo cultivado: cempantli, 20 surcos; ompantli, 40 surcos, etcétera.
ça cenpantzin ytepanco Sepastian Tlilantzin = un pantle a la linde de Sevastián Tlilantzin
Pantli indica hileras, surcos, muros, etc., en una palabra, objetos o personas colocados en fila o en orden: ompantli tlaca, dos hileras de personas.
amo ueuey...cequi onpantli yepantly acah nappantli = no son grandes...algunos dos pantles (parcelas) o tres pantles alquien cuatro pantles (Tlaxcala, 1567)