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pehualtia.

Headword: 
pehualtia.
Principal English Translation: 

to begin or initiate something (see Karttunen); to give occasion or be the cause of some contention (see Molina); to spark conflict; to get someone started, including to initiate sexually (see attestations)

Orthographic Variants: 
peualtia
IPAspelling: 
peːwɑltiɑː
Alonso de Molina: 

peualtia. nitla. (pret. onitlapeualti.) comenzar, o principiar algo.
peualtia. nic. (pret. onicpeualti.) dar ocasion, o ser causa de alguna contienda, o baraja.
Alonso de Molina, Vocabulario en lengua castellana y mexicana y mexicana y castellana, 1571, part 2, Nahuatl to Spanish, f. 81r. col. 2. Thanks to Joe Campbell for providing the transcription.

Frances Karttunen: 

PĒHUALTIĀ vt to begin, initiate something / comenzar o principiar algo (M) caus. PĒHU(A). PĒHUALTILIĀ applic. PĒHUALTIĀ. PĒHUALTĪLŌ nonact. PĒHUALTIĀ.
Frances Karttunen, An Analytical Dictionary of Nahuatl (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1992), 191.

Attestations from sources in English: 

ca in mexica iehoan quipeoaltia, iehoan quitzintia, iehoan inpeoal in iauiotl = that the Mexica would start and commence the battle, that it would be on their initiative (Mexico City, 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), 144.

tzinpehualtia = to found
Ca zemicac yehuatl quitotiyez ynic omotzinpehualti = Because eternally they are to speak about how [our altepetl] was founded
Stephanie Wood, Mapa de Tolcayuca f. 3r., The Mapas Project, University of Oregon; write [email protected] for access to web pages. James Lockhart assisted with the translation

Oc cepa ompevaltia yn ce tochtli ynic tlayavalotiuh cexiuitl = Once again One Rabbit begins. Thus the year goes making its round.
Fray Bernardino de Sahagún, Primeros Memoriales, ed. Thelma D. Sullivan, et al. (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1997), 159.

Attestations from sources in Spanish: 

cuix quipolo mochpocho yn Justina quito yn nechpevalti Juan yn notech ahci = que el hizo perder tu virginidad? Justina dijo me inicio Juan, en mi llego (Tlaxcala, 1565)
Catálogo de documentos escritos en náhuatl, siglo XVI, vol. I (Tlaxcala: Gobierno del Estado de Tlaxcala y el Archivo Histórico del Estado de Tlaxcala, 2013), 44.

yn mochinti justisia taltepetli xa yexhantzitzi quimotlalilisque ynfirma ykan tlaneltilis nicpegualtia notestamento = la justicia de nuestro pueblo, que sus mercedes han de firmar para que sea cierto que empiezo mi testamento (Tecamachalco, Puebla, "1548", transl. 1717)
Vidas y bienes olvidados: Testamentos indígenas novohispanos, vol. 2, Testamentos en náhuatl y castellano del siglo XVI, eds., Teresa Rojas Rabiela, Elsa Leticia Rea López, Constantino Medina Lima (Mexico: Consejo Nacional de Ciencias Tecnología, 1999), 82–83.

themes: 
Imperialism (Indigenous)
Sexuality, Fertility, Reproduction
War, Conflict