to acquire land, to conquer, to be deserving of land and obtain territory for the founding of an altepetl (SW)
motlalique xoNacatepec tlaca huel achtopa tlalmaseuhque = the people of Xonacatepec settled [here] and obtained land for the very first time.
achto huel mohuetziltito yancuican tlalmacehuato yn ompa = first he went to get really settled and to acquire land there (late sixteenth or early seventeenth century, central New Spain)
auh ye iuh nauhpohualxihuitl ypã onxihuitl yhuan õtetl metztli onoque yn españolesme. ynic acico mexico. nican ynic tlalmacehuaco = And it had been 82 years and two months that the Spaniards were present, since they arrived in Mexico coming to acquire the land. (central Mexico, seventeenth century)
As the above examples show, the term tlalmacehua was known and used by legitimate nahuatlatos in the seventeenth century. But it was also a popular term in the Techialoyan genre or at least we see tlalmaceuhqui (land deserver) and tlalmaceuhque (land deservers, or those who acquired land).
ton palacizco totoquiahuatzin huey pili tlalmaceuhq... [1r, top register] = don Francisco Totoquiahuatzin, the great noble and land-deserver (central Mexico, late seventeenth or early 18th century; Techialoyan manuscript)
tlaltecatzin tlalmac[euhqui] acolnahuacatl = the tlaltecatzin, the land deserver, Acolnahuacatl (Azcapotzalcan king) (central Mexico, late seventeenth or early 18th c.; Techialoyan manuscript)
ytachcocoltzin ton Tieco te Mentoça Montecçoçoma ynic omotlalmacehuylico nis omotlacaxinachotzino = nuestro bisabuelo don Diego de Mendoza Moctezuma por haber conquistado, y allí fue la fundación de el pueblo (Zempoala, "1610", but probably Techialoyan -related)
oquimomasehuiqui ynn icuac otetlalmasehualtique = la heredaron cuando la conquista (San Baltasar Tochpan, Tlaxcala, s. XVI)
yn huey tlalmaseuhqui = el agraciado grande de las tierras (central Mexico, late seventeenth or early 18th century; Techialoyan manuscript)
yn itech oquisque yn tlalmaceuhqui motocayotia Rey Quaquauhtzin inhuan yn ipilhuan yn oc yohuayanpa yhuan yn Christianotlalpa = Esta es la descendencia del Rey Cuacuautzin, y de sus hijos, tanto en tiempo de la gentilidad, como en el cristianismo.
Este ejemplo no tiene la raíz "tlalli" junto con la parte "macehua," pero parece útil para hacer comparaciones: ynic quitlatlamaceuito yn imaltepeuh = por lo que cada uno fue a merecer su pueblo (Quauhtinchan, s. XVI)