Principal English Translation:
to plunge into the fire like a butterfly; figuratively, to place oneself in danger
Attributed to Siméon. See Sell's comments in Bartolomé de Alva, A Guide to Confession Large and Small in the Mexican Language, 1634, eds. Barry D. Sell and John Frederick Schwaller, with Lu Ann Homza (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1999), 27.
Attestations from sources in English:
motlepapalochihua = consume themselves like moths in a flame; and see: Sahagún, Florentine Codex, Notlepapalochiuhtiuh [sic] = I fly into the fire like a moth/butterfly (central Mexico, 1634)
Bartolomé de Alva, A Guide to Confession Large and Small in the Mexican Language, 1634, eds. Barry D. Sell and John Frederick Schwaller, with Lu Ann Homza (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1999), 27.