house of youths, an institution of education for young men (see Karttunen)
quicalaquiaia inuehican in telpochcali inic vmpa tlacaoapaoa tlacazcaltia vmpa quimizcaltia in telpopochti, on cuicoianooaia in ioaltica in vmpa cuicacali = He entered a place of dignity, the young men's house, there to nurture and rear [them]. There he reared the young men, there where there was song and dance at night, there in the song house (central Mexico, sixteenth century)
auh in ie muchintin oçacoque in moteucalhuique: nimā ie ic tetlatilo in tetelpuchcali = when all those who had been cast down from the temple had been removed, they were burned in the various youths' houses (Mexico City, sixteenth century)
In the Culhuacan wills this refers to a house built before a man’s marriage; in the traditional sources, a school for young commoner boys.
In Mexico Tenochtitlan, a school for commoner youths, primarily boys, emphasizing military affairs and public works.
jn telpochcalli, ynic tlamanca, in telpochtlatoque vncan tlacazcaltiaia vncan tlacauapauaya = in the house of the youths it was the custom that there the master of the youths educated people; they instructed people (central Mexico, sixteenth century)
Book Six of the Florentine Codex, the encyclopedia of Nahua civilization compiled by the Franciscan Berdardino de Sahagún, describes how loving parents, in order to ensure that a baby would live, promised to take the child, when it was partly grown, to either the elite calmecac school or to the telpochcalli ‘youth house’ (Sahagún 1950–82:bk6:209–218) (late sixteenth century, Central Mexico)
young man’s (or young men's) house; school
injc amo iciuhca mjqujz piltontli, teupan qujtoa, teupan qujpoa: ijollotlama in tenan, in teta in canpa qujpoaz: aҫo calmecac, anoҫo telpuchcali = in order, it was said, that the baby would not quickly die, declared it to be for the temple, assigned it to the temple. Where it would be assigned, either to the calmecac or to the telpochcalli, was as the mother, as the father determined (central Mexico, sixteenth century)