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people of the water, of the lagoon, of the lake, or the sea; could be used to refer to the people of Mexico City, who lived on islands in the lake or perhaps even the people of the lake shores; sailors; mean people (see Molina and attestations)
The form "atlaca" may lack the singular absolutive end tl, or it may be the plural used in a partitive meaning, "one of." The word is probably ātlahcatl, a person associated with or inhabitant of the water, which in effect usually means a boatman, sailor, or fisherman. A remote possibility would be ahtlācatl, usually meaning an inhuman, monstrous person, but conceivably susceptible of being interpreted as a nobody, a person of very humble origins. (central Mexico, 1612)