a piece of land, a parcel, and agricultural field; the Earth, the world; dirt, soil, dust; a plain; also, a name given to a child, Tlalli (see Molina, Karttunen, Lockhart, and attestations)
anoҫo canah temac motlalia, canah netlacujlli quichioa: auh injc quichioaia ipampa tlalli in quexqujch quichioa in calpollali, yoan in chinamitl, in chiauhtlalli, in teuhtlalli, anoҫo ximmilli ie in ipan tequjtia = or else sold their land, which they had enclosed, or which lay in others' territory, or which somewhere they had lent. And they did even so with all lands—the tribal lands, the cultivated lands, marshy lands, the dry and dusty lands, or the cut-over, cultivated fields upon which they worked (central Mexico, sixteenth century)
A "tlaltzintli" measuring 20 x 20 quahuitl (square parcel), on the road and shared between two couples, sold for 6 pesos; the buyer was an "espaniol" married to an "espanola;" both of them lived in the tlaxilacalli of Santa Barbara Mixcoac, in the "cioda de sa Jusephe Tolocan" (Toluca city, 1670)
"yn tlaltzintli" = a piece of land; in this case it measured 204 by 64 varas (not small), and it sold for 40 pesos (a hefty sum) perhaps because this was an urban property (Toluca city, 1692)
"ce tlali" = a piece of land, parcel; size not given; sold by a humble couple to another humble couple for 17 pesos "ypan ce notrabajo onexpalehuique" (a reference to labor on the land that had been given); location on the road and next to a milli (Calimaya, 1713)
"ce tlalli yhuan calli" = a piece of land and a house; measuring 30 by 41 varas; sold by a humble man to a humble man (a half-tributary with two children) for 75 pesos "yztac teocuitlatl" or "plata de oro común"; may have also sold again for 61 pesos (Toluca city, 1722)
"se tlali" [ce tlalli] = a piece of land, parcel; by tracking parcel size, use, and value, we may be able to refine our understanding of this term in comparison with milli and other terms for parcels. We might also track change over time in the types and sizes of parcels being transferred. In Calimaya, in 1733, this piece of land measured 120 by 94 varas and sold for 7 pesos to a "don" by two more humble men who wanted to get a son out of jail.
"ynitzin tlali" = this little parcel; sold by a humble family to a former gobernador ("don") for 10 pesos; it was located on the road; no dimensions given (Calimaya, 1737)
"se tlalin" = a piece of land; measuring 5 quahuitl (translated as palos) and 25 surcos (a loanword) was sold by a family man to his niece (Tenango del Valle, 1749)
"ce tlatli" = a piece of land, sold by a "don" to another "don," both married, for 40 "pesos de oro común"; the property measured 204 by 64 "varas castellanas" (but elsewhere is said to measure 270 by 150 varas), and it was located in the tlaxilacalli of San Miguel Aticpac (Toluca city, 1750)
Note also the word tlalme, "lands." Nahuatl traditionally never puts a plural suffix on tlalli, "land," and that is generally true in the Toluca wills as well, but here we have an expression affected by Spanish tierras. (San Pedro Calimaya, Toluca Valley, 1755)
"ce tlaltzintli" = a piece of land, and all of its houses or buildings ("mochi caltzintli"), was sold by a coulple to their nephew for 48 pesos de oro común; this measured 41.25 varas square; the -tzintli suffix does not appear to work as a diminutive here; this was a valuable urban property (Toluca city, 1756)
"ce pedazito tlaltontli" = a small pedazo (parcel) of land; this measured 175 "varas castellanas" divided between East and West, with each half composed of 87.5 varas; and half the land sold in 1773 for 19 pesos (Toluca city, 1758)
"se tlali" and "yni tlali" = a parcel, this parcel of land; sold by a "don" to a female tribute payer, who was the daughter of another "don," for 20 pesos; it could be planted with 2.5 almudes of maize; the land had been rented for 7 years (1758–1764) at the rate of 10 reales per year; it bordered on two sides with land owned by "dons." (Calimaya, 1763)
ca tetlalpa in ticate ca tequaxochco. ca tetepaco yn iyhyotl. ticmati ca yntlalpan yn tepanecatl yn azcapotzalcatl. yn aculhuacatl. auh yn culhuacan tlaca ca ynquaxochco yn ticate = For we are on others' land, within others' boundaries, within others' walls; the air that we know is that of Tepaneca, Azcapotzalca, Aculhuaque lands. And we are within the boundaries of the people of Culhuacan. (central Mexico, early seventeenth century)
also spelled tlali
land
yaloac quauhtla Omotamachihuato tlali = a party went to the forest to measure land
tlalli = earth (a name given to a child)
auh ca çaniyo yn calli amo no yehuatl yn itlallo = It is just the house, without its land. (n.d., sixteenth century)
nauhteylhuicapan in yatiuh tonatiuh. auh yn metztli. ca ye yc itech in yatiuh ynic centeylhuicapa. yn huel ye ytech yn quiyahuallohua tlalli = the sun goes in the four[th] heaven, and the moon goes in the first heaven that rotates all around the earth (central Mexico, 1611)
“...the sign for tlalli, a rectangle with horizontal, wavy lines (Galarza, pers. comm.)....” (p. 59)
cenmecatl yn tlalli Acaxtenco centçontli yni hueyaca = un cordel o mecate de tierra, en el pago llamado Acaltzinco, que tiene cuatrocientos de largo (Xochimilco, 1577)
yua yn ixquix tlalcacoali = Y todas las tierras dejadas en descanso (San Juan Teotihuacan, 1563)
tal = tlalli
¿Ni tal yec pal ni ta:guil? E, yec. = ¿La tierra da buena cosecha? Si:, muy buena. (Sonsonate, El Salvador, Nahuat or Pipil, s. XX)
dali = tlalli = tierras (Guatemala, 1637, documento en pipil)