tliltic.

Headword: 
tliltic.
Principal English Translation: 

black, the color; or, a black person, a person of African heritage; to specify a black woman, this word could be combined with cihuatl

Orthographic Variants: 
tiltic, tlilihqui
IPAspelling: 
tɬiːltik
Alonso de Molina: 

tliltic. cosa negra de etiopia.
Alonso de Molina, Vocabulario en lengua castellana y mexicana y mexicana y castellana, 1571, part 2, Nahuatl to Spanish, f. 148r. col. 1. Thanks to Joe Campbell for providing the transcription.

Frances Karttunen: 

TLĪLTIC something black / cosa negra de etiopia (M), negro, (Z) C has an example in which this refers to an African, which is common in texts from the early colonial period onward. possessed form: -TLĪLTICĀUH . See TLĪL-LI.
Frances Karttunen, An Analytical Dictionary of Nahuatl (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1992), 308.

Lockhart’s Nahuatl as Written: 

something black; a person of African descent. tlīlli, -tic.
James Lockhart, Nahuatl as Written: Lessons in Older Written Nahuatl, with Copious Examples and Texts (Stanford: Stanford University Press and UCLA Latin American Studies, 2001), 239.

Attestations from sources in English: 

"Even Nahuatl tliltique, literally 'blacks,' in reference to people of African descent, represents a direct translation of Spanish negros."
Annals of His Time: Don Domingo de San Antón Muñón Chimalpahin Quauhtlehuanitzin, James Lockhart, Susan Schroeder, and Doris Namala, eds. and transl. (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2006), 6–7.

auh yn çan quixcahuitinemi yn tlaelpaquiliztli yn tliltic yn catzahuac, in oquichtin in cihua cenca quinmotlaelittilia = but those men and women who live only devoting themselves to the black and filthy pleasures of the flesh He abominates (central Mexico, early seventeenth century)
Codex Chimalpahin: Society and Politics in Mexico Tenochtitlan, Tlatelolco, Culhuacan, and Other Nahuatl Altepetl in Central Mexico; The Nahuatl and Spanish Annals and Accounts Collected and Recorded by don Domingo de San Antón Muñón Chimalpahin Quauhtlehuanitzin, eds. and transl. Arthur J. O. Anderson and Susan Schroeder (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1997), vol. 2, 144–145.

auh quil yntla huel quinchihuani yntecuiyohuan españoles. yntla huel quinmictiani. quil yc niman. yehuantin tlahtocatizquia quil ce tliltic Rey mochihuazquia yhuan ce mulata morisca quil quimonamictizquia reyna mochihuazquia. ytoca Isabel yn otlahtocatizquia Mexico. auh quil yn ixquich altepetl ynic nohuiyan ypan nueua españa quil ye moch oquimomamacaca yn tliltique yn oncan otlahtocatizquia ynic cequintin Duques. cequintin Marquestin cequintin Condesme = And reportedly if they had been able to do it to their masters, to kill them, reportedly a black was going to be king and a mulatto woman, a morisca, named Isabel, was reportedly going to marry him and become queen, and they would have been the rulers in Mexico. And reportedly all the different altepetl everywhere in New Spain had been distributed to the blacks, and there they would rule, so that some had reportedly been made dukes, some marqueses, some counts. (central Mexico, 1612)
Annals of His Time: Don Domingo de San Antón Muñón Chimalpahin Quauhtlehuanitzin, James Lockhart, Susan Schroeder, and Doris Namala, eds. and transl. (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2006), 218–219.

Auh ynic omilhuitl axcan ypan Domingo de ramos. ynic 15. mani Metztli Abril yn ipan omoteneuh xihuitl 1612 yhcuac cenca omocomonique yn mochintin españoles yn Mexico onoque cenca omomauhtique miectlamãtli yntechpa oquimotemohuillique yn tliltique yn intlacahuan ça quimimacaztinemia ça ynhuicpa mihmattinemia y manel quintequipanohua. yuh quihtoque mochintin yn españoles. ca otechcentlahtalhuique in techmictizq̃. totlacahuan yn totlilticahuan ynic cenca quinmauhtiaya = On the second day, today Palm Sunday, the 15th of the month of April in the said year of 1612, was when all the Spaniards who live in Mexico became very agitated and fearful. They investigated many things about their black slaves; they went about in fear of them, they were very watchful about them even though they serve them. All the Spaniards said, "Our black slaves have set and coordinated a time to kill us," which greatly frightened them. (central Mexico, 1612)
Annals of His Time: Don Domingo de San Antón Muñón Chimalpahin Quauhtlehuanitzin, James Lockhart, Susan Schroeder, and Doris Namala, eds. and transl. (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2006), 214–215.

auh achtopa yc tzatzihuac nohuiyan yn ihtic ciudad Mexico in yehuantin españoles. yc nahuatilloque, yn aquin quipia chicuacentliltic quinnamacaz yn nahui auh çan oome yn mochi tlacatl quipiaz ytlilticauh. auh yn aquin amo quitlacamatiz Justicia yn iuh tlanahuatia quicuiliz yn omoteneuh nahui ynic aoctle onquiçaz tlatquihua = But first it was proclaimed everywhere in the city of Mexico and the Spaniards were ordered that whoever has six blacks was to sell four of them, and everyone would have only two blacks each. For whoever would not obey the law it was ordered that the said four be taken from him, so that he would no longer be the owner. (central Mexico, 1612)
Annals of His Time: Don Domingo de San Antón Muñón Chimalpahin Quauhtlehuanitzin, James Lockhart, Susan Schroeder, and Doris Namala, eds. and transl. (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2006), 214–215.

njman ic qujmontlapachoa, qujmonixqujmjloa, cecenme, ica neçaoalquachtli, tliltic omjcallo, ioan qujmonmaca icpaxiqujpilli, tliltic omjcallo, in vncan temj copalli = Then they veiled and covered their faces, each one of them, with black fasting capes designed with bones. And they gave them cotton incense bags, black and designed with bones, which they filled with incense (central Mexico, sixteenth century)
Fr. Bernardino de Sahagún, Florentine Codex: General History of the Things of New Spain; Book 8 -- Kings and Lords, no. 14, Part IX, eds. and transl. Arthur J. O. Anderson and Charles E. Dibble (Santa Fe and Salt Lake City: School of American Research and the University of Utah, 1951), 63.

tliltic catzahuac tlatlacolli = a black and dirty mortal sin (Central Mexico, 1552)
Fray Alonso de Molina, Nahua Confraternities in Early Colonial Mexico: The 1552 Nahuatl Ordinances of fray Alonso de Molina, OFM, ed. and trans., Barry D. Sell (Berkeley: Academy of American Franciscan History, 2002), 86–87.

ixtetenextique, tzoncoztique, tel cequi tliltic in intzon = Their faces were the color of limestone and their hair yellow-reddish, though some had black hair. (central Mexico, sixteenth century)
James Lockhart, We People Here: Nahuatl Accounts of the Conquest of Mexico, Repertorium Columbianum v. 1 (Los Angeles: UCLA Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies, 1993), 80.

intlilticahuan = their black slaves (central Mexico, seventeenth century)
Annals of His Time: Don Domingo de San Antón Muñón Chimalpahin Quauhtlehuanitzin, James Lockhart, Susan Schroeder, and Doris Namala, eds. and transl. (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2006), 86–87.

oquichihuasquia yaoyotl tliltique ypan jueves santo onpã mexico = Some blacks were about to make war in Mexico City on Holy Thursday. (as reported in Puebla, 1612)
Here in This Year: Seventeenth-Century Nahuatl Annals of the Tlaxcala-Puebla Valley, ed. and transl. Camilla Townsend, with an essay by James Lockhart (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2010), 88–89.

omomictique tliltique yhuã caxtilteca ypan Juebes Santo oncan y motlalia tlaxcalchiuhque = Blacks and Spaniards fought on Holy Thursday, where the bakers are set up [in the marketplace]. (Puebla, 1659)
Here in This Year: Seventeenth-Century Nahuatl Annals of the Tlaxcala-Puebla Valley, ed. and transl. Camilla Townsend, with an essay by James Lockhart (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2010), 102–103.

yn ocacoque bandera yn tliltique auh yn oquis yncapitan se tliltic ytoca lorenso de papia = The blacks raised a banner, and a black named Lorenzo de Tapia turned out to be their captain. (Puebla, 1683)
Here in This Year: Seventeenth-Century Nahuatl Annals of the Tlaxcala-Puebla Valley, ed. and transl. Camilla Townsend, with an essay by James Lockhart (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2010), 126–127.

yn oquitlatique Çe mulato huel tliltihqui ypanpa puto ytoca ocatca domingo onpa oquihualhuicaque amillpan cuauhco = They burned a very dark mulatto because he was a homosexual. His name was Domingo. They brought him from Amilpan in a cage. (Puebla, 1690)
Here in This Year: Seventeenth-Century Nahuatl Annals of the Tlaxcala-Puebla Valley, ed. and transl. Camilla Townsend, with an essay by James Lockhart (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2010), 148–149.

auh yn tleyn oquitzaucticatca yn tonali ça çe tliltic = What was blocking the sun was just a black [person?]. (Puebla, 1691)
Here in This Year: Seventeenth-Century Nahuatl Annals of the Tlaxcala-Puebla Valley, ed. and transl. Camilla Townsend, with an essay by James Lockhart (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2010), 154–155.

ca amotle tliltic, atle catzahuac, atle tetlayelti, calaquiz yn ichãtzinco totecuiyo = Nothing black, nothing dirty, nothing repulsive will enter the home of our God. (early seventeenth century, Central Mexico)
Louise M. Burkhart, Before Guadalupe: The Virgin Mary in Early Colonial Nahuatl Literature, Institute for Mesoamerican Studies Monograph 13 (Albany: University at Albany, 2001), 67.

amo tonahuac mocalaquis ma quixtiano ma mulato ma mestiso ma tliltic ma chino amo oncan tlatozque ynnahuac yn masehualtzitzintin = No Spaniard, mulatto, mestizo, black, or chino was to enter among us; they were not to have a voice among the indigenous people. (Puebla, 1686)
Here in This Year: Seventeenth-Century Nahuatl Annals of the Tlaxcala-Puebla Valley, ed. and transl. Camilla Townsend, with an essay by James Lockhart (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2010), 136–137.

tlīltic = black (i.e. like 'ink,' tlīlli)
Michel Launey, An Introduction to Classical Nahuatl, translated and adapted by Christopher MacKay (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2011), 111.

ypan omacocuizquia. yaoyotl oquichihuazquia. nicã mexico. yn tliltique. ynpan quichihuazquia yn intecuiyohuan yn españolestin. oquinmictizquia. auh amo quimonequiltitzino yn tt˚. Dios. amo quinmomacahuilli yn españolestin. mictilozque. ca nimã machiztic niman ohuanoque yn tliltique. auh yuh mito. yntla huel quichihuani yaoyotl. yntla huelitini ca yehuantin. otlahtocatizquia. yn iuh machiztic yn ipan in yancuic tlalli nueua españa motenehua ye oquitlallica yntlahtocauh ce tliltic yn tlahtohuani yn Rey mochiuhca ytoca Don ___ Auh no ce tliltic cihuatl cihuatlahtohuani Reyna Omochiuhca. ytoca ___ yhuan yn oc cequintin tliltique. ye oquimomamacaca. yn ixquich nican altepetl yn oncan otlahtocatizquia. ynic cequintin Duquesme yhuan cequintin. marquesesme. yhuan cequintin condesme omochiuhca. yn iuh momatca oc yehuantin. otechmomacehualtizquia ỹ nican titlaca timacehualtin otiquintlayecoltizquia = the blacks were going to rebel and make war here in Mexico; they were going to make it on their lords the Spaniards, they were going to kill them, but our lord God did not want it so, he did not permit the Spaniards to be killed, for it became known right away, and the blacks were immediately arrested. It was said that if they had been able to make war, if they could have, they would have ruled, as it became known, in the new land called New Spain. They had already established a black as their ruler; the ruler and king who had been created was named don _____. And also a black woman had been chosen woman ruler and queen, named ____. And they had distributed all the various altepetl here to other blacks who would rule there; some had been made dukes, some marqueses, some counts. They thought they would make us local people, us commoners, their vassals; we were going to serve them (central Mexico, 1608–1609)
Annals of His Time: Don Domingo de San Antón Muñón Chimalpahin Quauhtlehuanitzin, James Lockhart, Susan Schroeder, and Doris Namala, eds. and transl. (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2006), 154–5.

Aztecan tlil-coatl 'black snake' is simply 'soot-snake' ('black- dye-snake'; tliltic = 'black')....
Alan H. Kelso De Montigny, International Antropological and Linguistic Review (1954), 159.

"Along with the visually descriptive term tliltique (a preterit agentive that literally means, 'they have become black like ink,' in effect, 'blacks' ), Carochi includes for the benefit of his clerical students the common Nahua slur for darker-skinned people of West African descent, cacatzactin (dirty, soiled ones)."
Barry D. Sell, "'Perhaps Our Lord God Has Forgotten Me,' Intruding into the Colonial Nahua (Aztec) Confessional," in The Conquest All Over Again: Nahuas and Zapotecs Thinking, Writing, and Painting Spanish Colonialism, ed. Susan Schroeder (Brighton, Portland, Toronto: Sussex Academic Press, 2010), 200.

Attestations from sources in Spanish: 

aҫo castillan tlaca anoҫo mextiҫo anoco tliltic anoҫo haca oncan chane = sea castellano, mestizo, negro, o algún nativo del lugar (Cuauhtinchan, Puebla, s. XVI)
Luis Reyes García, "Ordenanzas para el gobierno de Cuauhtinchan, año de 1559," Estudios de Cultura Náhuatl 10 (1972), 262–263.

yhuan ycuican [sic] macoque broseçio totlaçonatzin Consepçio tlilticatzintzin quarezma samana santa martes santo. = Y por primera vez, en la cuaresma, el Martes Santo de la Semana Santa, dieron a los negritos la procesión de nuestra amada madre Concepción. (Tlaxcala, 1662–1692)
Juan Buenaventura Zapata y Mendoza, Historia cronológica de la Noble Ciudad de Tlaxcala, transcripción paleográfica, traducción, presentación y notas por Luis Reyes García y Andrea Martínez Baracs (Tlaxcala y México: Universidad Autónoma de Tlaxcala, Secretaría de Extensión Universitaria y Difusión Cultural, y Centro de Investigaciones y Estudios Superiores en Antropología Social, 1995), 256–257.

miqui sepanol barbero momictito yquac tlamiminohuac ateco catca hoztoquapanecatl choloca yn tliltic teopan calac y cochia canato temachtiani yn omoteneuh hualathui piloloc biernes teotlac 14 de julnio = un barbero español murió, fue a pelearse cuando hubo corrida de toros. El habitante de Oztoquapan había huido y estaba en la costa. El negro se metió a la iglesia y estaba durmiendo cuando el predicador mencionado lo apresó al amanecer. Fue colgado por la tarde del viernes 14 de junio. (Tlaxcala, 1662–1692)
Juan Buenaventura Zapata y Mendoza, Historia cronológica de la Noble Ciudad de Tlaxcala, transcripción paleográfica, traducción, presentación y notas por Luis Reyes García y Andrea Martínez Baracs (Tlaxcala y México: Universidad Autónoma de Tlaxcala, Secretaría de Extensión Universitaria y Difusión Cultural, y Centro de Investigaciones y Estudios Superiores en Antropología Social, 1995), 228–229.

Tliltic = Negro
Antonio Vázquez Gastelu, Arte de lengua mexicana (Puebla de los Angeles, México: Imprenta Nueva de Diego Fernández de León, 1689), 32r.

omoteochiuh yacuican yn nicaltzin totlaçonatzin Conçepçion tlilticatzintzintin = por primera vez se bendijo "la casa" de nuestra madre Concepción de los negros (Tlaxcala, 1662–1692)
Juan Buenaventura Zapata y Mendoza, Historia cronológica de la Noble Ciudad de Tlaxcala, transcripción paleográfica, traducción, presentación y notas por Luis Reyes García y Andrea Martínez Baracs (Tlaxcala y México: Universidad Autónoma de Tlaxcala, Secretaría de Extensión Universitaria y Difusión Cultural, y Centro de Investigaciones y Estudios Superiores en Antropología Social, 1995), 336–337.

Nican ipan xihuitl omomictìquê Tliltiquê ic nochtin Caxtiltecâ oncan ic motlalia Tlaxcal nemacaquê = En este año se encontraron los negros con los españoles, allí donde se sientan a vender las tortilleras (Puebla, 1797)
Anales del Barrio de San Juan del Río; Crónica indígena de la ciudad de Puebla, xiglo XVII, eds. Lidia E. Gómez García, Celia Salazar Exaire, y María Elena Stefanón López (Puebla: Instituto de Ciencias Sociales y Humanidades, BUAP, 2000), 88–89.

auh yn escopeta yc q'[ui]namicque nahuintin y[n] micque omentin timacehualtin ce español yhua[n] ce tliltic yc nahuintin in micque auh y[n] tlatohuani hacico ytoca don Caston de Peralta marques de Farces conde de Sanct Esteva[n] mayordomo mayores etc. = Y por las escopetas con las que lo recibieron murieron cuatro, dos de nosotros los macehuales, un español y un negro, cuatro fueron los que murieron. Y el señor que llegó se llama don Gastón de Peralta, marqués de Falces, conde de San Esteban, mayordomo mayor, etc. (ca. 1582, México)
Luis Reyes García, ¿Como te confundes? ¿Acaso no somos conquistados? Anales de Juan Bautista (Mexico: Centro de Investigaciones y Estudios Superiores en Antropología Social, Biblioteca Lorenzo Boturini Insigne y Nacional Basílica de Guadalupe, 2001), 152–153.

yquac quixexeloque tliltic Pastralo ytecuiyo quimicti auh in tliltic carretaco yetia onca[n] tinasatica quicocoto[n]tiaque[ue] caltzalla[n]tli quitotoctique ynic quiteyttitique auh in iq[ua]c omic nima[n] quixexeloque quinauhca[n]quixtique yn inacayo yhua[n] quimacpalcoto[n]que auh in Tlalcocomocco quipilloto san itech yetia yn itzo[n]tenco[n]. = entonces descuartizaron al negro Pastralo que había matado a su señor [itecuiyo]. En una carreta condujeron al negro, allí con tenazas lo fueron despedazando, lo llevaron por las calles para mostrarlo. Y una vez que murió, luego los hicieron cuartos y la cortaron las palmas de las manos. En tlacocomocco lo fueron a colgar, ya sólo iba su cabeza. (ca. 1582, México)
Luis Reyes García, ¿Como te confundes? ¿Acaso no somos conquistados? Anales de Juan Bautista (Mexico: Centro de Investigaciones y Estudios Superiores en Antropología Social, Biblioteca Lorenzo Boturini Insigne y Nacional Basílica de Guadalupe, 2001), 190.