a sickness or punishment (a metaphor); literally stones, sticks
Orthographic Variants:
tetl quauitl, tetl quahuitl.
Alonso de Molina:
tetl quauitl. enfermedad o castigo. metaphora. Alonso de Molina, Vocabulario en lengua castellana y mexicana y mexicana y castellana, 1571, part 2, Nahuatl to Spanish, f. 110v. col. 1. Thanks to Joe Campbell for providing the transcription.