macehualli.

"An important item in Chimalpahin's vocabulary is macehualli. The word may originally have meant 'human being'; by the sixteenth century it most often referred to social rank, to a commoner as opposed to a noble, although in the plural or collective it still could approach the sense 'the people.' By around 1600 this word, while often retaining its earlier senses, was becoming the primary term for indigenous people when their altepetl or other affiliations were not mentioned, often appearing in the first person plural. Its field of reference in this sense was virtually the same as Spanish indio, 'Indian,' and in some cases it can be seen as an attempt to find an equivalent for the Spanish word."
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), 17.

ca yehuatl yn intequiuh tlahtoque yn ohui ypan mochihua altepetl, yn huel yez quiyeecoa yn canpa ye huel quimaquixtizque macehuali ynic huel yez ymaltepeuh, yn ma yuhqui hotli camo ye in qui[to]tocti yn macehuali = For it is the task of rulers when dangers befall the altepetl to try to determine where indeed they may save the commoners, so that it may be well with the altepetl and so that the commoners do not, as it were, flee along the roads. (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, 192–193.

Barry D. Sell states that macehualtin (plural of macehualli), which Alva translated as "naturales" (natives), was "well on its way to becoming the main Nahuatl term used to approximate the European word and concept 'Indian,' i.e., a person of the 'New Worlds' as opposed to someone from the 'Old World.'" This was in the context of discussing the guide to confession of 1634.
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), 29.

timaçehualli = tu Natural, e Indio (a quote from the Dominican Fray Francisco de Lorra Baquio, Manual mexicano, 1634)
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), 30.

macuilpohualli yn imacehual Jabonti quinhualhuica auh yn quinnahuatlahtalhuithuitz ce S. Franco tottatzin descalço = He brought along a hundred Japanese, [the emperor's] subjects, and a Discalced Franciscan friar came along to interpret for them. (central Mexico, 1613)
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), 236–237.

macehualtzitzintin = a mock reverential, meaning "the poor indigenous people"
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), 61.

yxquich totlatol timomacehualhuan = These are all the words of us your subjects. (Jalostotilan, 1611)
Beyond the Codices, eds. Arthur J.O. Anderson, Frances Berdan, and James Lockhart (Los Angeles: UCLA Latin American Center, 1976), Doc. 27, 172–173.

The use of macehualli in the plural to refer to indigenous people, in general, is especially frequent in the annals of Puebla.

y manel yehuatl ychcal amo yntech huallacia yn mexica ynic cenca motoliniticatca çan yehuatl yn cequintin macehualtzitzinti mexica yn quimoquentiaya yhuan cequintin quimomaxtlatiaya yn amoxtli yn atitlan = At least the cotton never reached the Mexica since the Mexica were very poor. Only some of the poor Mexica commoners clothed themselves, and some wore breechclouts of marsh plants that grew by the water. (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. 1, 118–119.

anquinpiezque amo can quexquichtin. amo tzonquizque. amo tlanque yezque. yn amomacehualhuan yn amechtlacallaquilizque yn amechmacazque yn amo çan quexquich tlapanahuia hualca. yn chalchihuitl. yn coztic teocuitlatl. yn quetzalli. yn quetzalitztli. = you will have in your keeping countless, infinite, unlimited commoners who will pay tribute to you, who will give you an immeasurable superfluity of precious green stones, of gold, of quetzal feathers, of emerald-green jade (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. 1, 74–75.

sa choquistli omania auh niman onca omacomanque ynic muchi tlacatl yuhqui masehualtzintzintin = And then everyone became disturbed, priests and Spaniards as well as commoners. (Puebla, 1675–1699)
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), 205.

justisiatlaca oquinnotzque yn masehualtzitzintin = the law officers summoned the commoners [Indians] (Puebla, 1675–1699)
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), 205.

Yhuan yn ypan in omoteneuh metzli miyequintin atlan micque yn matlanhuique macehualtin = and in the aforementioned month many commoners [indigenous people] died in the water and drowned (Mexico City, 1600–1630)
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), 202.

macevalli = commoner
The Tlaxcalan Actas: A Compendium of the Records of the Cabildo of Tlaxcala (1545–1627), eds. James Lockhart, Frances Berdan, and Arthur J.O. Anderson (Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press, 1986), 67.

mazehualti altepehuaque tlacalaquique = the commoners, the townspeople, the taxpayers
Byron McAfee, translation of the Techialoyan manuscript from Santa María Zolotepec or Ocelotepec; University of California, Los Angeles, Special Collections.

omotlastihuetz pregon ynic quichihuasque yn masenhualtzitzin yn pantzin = a proclamation was hastily made that the indigenous people would make bread
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), 124–125.

se probision rreal ynic aocmo calaquisque cabildo ma quixtiano ma mestiso ma molato ma tliltic ma chino sa mixcahuisque yn masehualtzitzintin = a royal decree that no Spaniard, mestizo, mulatto, black nor chino should enter the cabildo any more. The indigenous exclusively should do it.
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), 130–131.

macehualtin = an appellation for believers
Susanne Klaus, Uprooted Christianity: The Preaching of the Christian Doctrine in Mexico, Based on Franciscan Sermons of the 16th Century Written in Nahuatl (Bonn: Bonner Amerikanistische Studien e. V. c/o Seminar für Völkerkunde, Universität Bonn, 1999), 251.

mixpantzinco tocontlalia yn tocnomacevallatol = we set before you our poor commoners' words
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), 290–291.

Cuitlapilli, in atlapalli. Quitoznequi: maceoalli = The tail and the wing. This means the common people.
Thelma D. Sullivan, "Nahuatl Proverbs, Conundrums, and Metaphors, Collected by Sahagún," Estudios de Cultura Náhuatl 4 (1963), 146–147.

auh no yhquac. yn o iuh qualoc tonatiuh nimãn ic peuh ỹ nican ciudad mexico miyec tlacatl. oychtaca micq̃ in timacehualtin. yhuã españoles. ỹ quimixilia. huel yuh tlamico ỹ xihuitl de 1611. a˚s. yn ichtacamicohuac = And also when the solar eclipse was over, it began that here in the city of Mexico many people were killed by stealth, we commoners and Spaniards who were stabbed. Right until the end of the year of 1611 people were murdered by stealth (central Mexico, 1611)
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), 184–5.

inic ye mochintin castilteca. nimã ya yehuantin. yn Mexica timacehualtin. amo huel mihtoz. motenehuaz. yn ixquich tlacatl vmpa quimonamiquillito. tlatilolco = and all the Spaniards, and then also all we Mexica commoners went to get him. It can't be said or told how many people went to meet him in Tlatelolco (central Mexico, 1611)
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), 186–7.

mochiuh yn oncã. quimochihuilli ce tlamahuiҫolli. S. Niculas. yn ipan ce señora. motlapachoca. ca yehuatl ipampa yn yn iqu intepantlahtocatzin. oquimochihuillique españoles. yhuã tehuantin timacehualti Mexico = San Nicolás performed a miracle on a Spanish woman who had been buried [under rubble], and it was because of this that the Spaniards, along with us commoners, made him their intercessor (central Mexico, 1611)
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), 192–3.

Instructions to alcaldes and their roles in the Codex Osuna (1565) state: auh yn ixquich tlacatl, yn macehuatzintli huell anquimocuitlahuizque anquitlaçotlazque = And as to all the commoners, you are to take good care of them, you are to treat them with esteem
James Lockhart, The Nahuas after the Conquest (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1992), 342.

yn carcel de corte ey tlacatl yn omictiloque ome españolti ce alcayde ynic ome bastonero. yn iqu ey tlacatl mulato yehuatl in quintlatlaliliaya tepoztli crillos ỹ tlatlacolleque quincallaquia oncar carcel [...] auh in temictique ҫan timacehualtin ylpiticatca ychtecque yeyntin [...] in ynic oncan in cenca yc otechtlahuelilocamatque yn españoles = in the court jail; three people were killed: two Spaniards, one a jailer, and the second one a jailer's assistant; the third was a mulatto who used to put shackles on the criminals they put in the jail [...] The killers were [of] us commoners, three thieves who were in custody [...] because of it the Spaniards thought very badly of us (central Mexico, 1613)
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), 248–9.

macehualtin = los indígenas (centro de México, s. XVIII)
Neville Stiles, Jeff Burnham, James Nauman, "Los concejos médicos del Dr. Bartolache sobre las pastillas de fierro: Un documento colonial en el náhuatl del siglo XVIII," Estudios de Cultural Náhuatl 19 (1989), 269–287, ver página 279.

mochitin tequihuaque y nican homoteneuhque tlacpac mochitin tequihuaque çequitin pipiltin cequitin maçehualtin = Todos estos funcionarios aquí arriba mencionados, algunos son pipiltin, otros son macehuales. (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), 566–567.

opeuhqui y maçehualtin ynic ye mocueçohua inic opeuh yca xochitopili ynic mochi maxochitl = empezaron a enojarse los macehuales; empezaron por las varas de flores [xochitopilli] y todos los ramilletes de flores para las manos [maxochitl] (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), 482–483.

mochi tlacatl moyolcuitis motlaçelilisque espanollestin yhuan yc mochitin ynitiotzintzin maçehualtzintzintin mestiso molato tlilticatzintzintin çaço ynic mochitin nepapatlaca = Todas las personas se confesarían y comulgarían, españoles, indios, macehuales, mestizos, mulatos, negros, cualesquiera de todas las diversas gentes. (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), 386–388.

micho tlacaqtl moyolcuitis motlaçelillisque espanollestin yhuan yc mochitin ynitiotzintzin maçehualtzintzintin mestiso molato tliticatzintzintin çaço ynic mochitin = Todaas las personas se confersarían y comulgarían, españoles, indios, macehuales, mestizos, mulatos, negros, cualesquiera de todoas las diversas gentes (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), 386–387.

ymaxca altepehuaque macehualti nican chaneque ypan ynin altepetl Canpualan = pertenecen al pueblo y son de los naturales de esta conmunidad de Zempoala (Zempoala, "1610", but probably Techialoyan -related)
Vidas y bienes olvidados: Testamentos en náhuatl y castellano del siglo XVII, vol. 3, Teresa Rojas Rabiela, et al, eds. (México: CIESAS, 2002), 84–85.

nicmomaquilia yn nopiltzin ytoca Juana quimopiliz yn cuemitl yhuan yn macehualtzintli quimocuitlahuiz... auh yn ey tlacatl macehualtzitzitin yhuan cuemitl nicmacatehua Marcos Juarez noshuitzin quimocuitlahuizque ... Maria Meceltzin quimopiliz yn cuemitl yhuan yn oniquintenehu macehualtzitzitin quimocuitlahuizque yn noshuitzin Maria Meceltzin = se la doy a mi hija Joana, y los macehuales la han de cuidar... y las tres personas macehuales y la tierra se la doy a Marcos Suares mi nieto, que la han de cuidar... María Mexeltzin, que la ha de tener la dicha tierra y los dichos macehuales han de cuidar a mi nieta María Mexeltzin (Tizatlan, Tlaxcala, 1595)
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), 296–297.

quitlay macehualtzintli = la ara una persona macehual (Tizatlan, (Tlaxcala, 1595)
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), 294–295.

Auh nenca maceualtzitzin[tin] ypan onoqueh ca ye ypan motequitilitihui iuhqui momachitiah yn nonamic ciuapilli yuan yn nopilhuan macamo quinmotequipachilhuizqueh = a los naturales que allí están sirviendo, que así lo saben, y mi mujer y mis hijos, que no les den pesadumbre (Tulancingo, México, 1577)
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), 190–191.

ypanpa ca tetocatlatquitl yhuan yn ixquich altepetlalli calpolllalli chiconncan quiztica ypan tlacalaquia macehualtzintli = porque es partimonio y señorío y todas las tierras del pueblo y barrios; que está dividido en siete partes, sobre que tributan los vasallos (San Juan Teotihuacan, 1563)
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), 134–135.

niconomaquillia cuemitl yuan maceualli = le dejo ciertas tierras e macehuales(Ocotelulco, Tlaxcala, 1562)
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), 128–129.

yquac quichiuhque bleyto ynahuac contador don Nicolas Romero monetolique gobernador macuili mil pesos quixtlahuazque yn iquac quintlaltolmacaque maçehualtin yztlacatiqueyxpan contador = Entonces hicieron pleito ante el contador don Nicolás Romero. El gobernador prometió pagar cinco mil pesos. Entonces aconsejaron a los macehuales que mintieran ante el contador(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), 290–291.

zan choquiztli omania. Nica[n] nochitlacatl omozen ácomanquê yuhq[u]i Teopixquê yuhqui zazan cax tilteca yuhqui macehualtzitzintin nochitin impan omomanquê in macehualtzitzin = todo era lágrimas y sollozos. Aquí hubo gran conmoción de toda clase de gentes: así sacerdotes como españoles, seculares y indios todos iban a favor de los inditos (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), 103.

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.