titlanahuatia ponsension quimacatiuh yn alguacil mayor luis caravajal = we order the chief constable Luis Carvajal to give him possession (Coyoacan, 1575)
Beyond the Codices, eds. Arthur J.O. Anderson, Frances Berdan, and James Lockhart (Los Angeles: UCLA Latin American Center, 1976), Doc. 13, 94–95.
yquac possecion macoc. yn Don Juan de ceruãtes. arcediano. ynic yxiptlatzin = when don Juan de Cervantes, archdeacon, was given possession [of the office] and made the deputy (central Mexico, 1608)
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), 152–3.
Auh niman ye ypan ylhuitli metztli yn omoteneuh tlacpac niman ompa mohuicac yn totlaçottatzin oconmanilli posesion yn intechpa tlalli = And then on the day and month mentioned above, our precious father came and took possession concerning the land. (Coyoacan 1612)
Rebecca Horn, Postconquest Coyoacan: Nahua-Spanish Relations in Central Mexico, 1519–1650 (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1997), 164, 320.
In Tlatelolco in 1620, stones were thrown in the four cardinal directions in an act to demonstrate possession.
James Lockhart, personal collection, folder called "Land and Economy." Cites AGN (Mexico) Tierras 442, exp. 5, fol. 9v.
ponsension quimacatiuh yn alguacil mayor luis caravajal = the Alguacil Mayor Luis Carvajal gave him possession. He was also given the testaments of previous owners, letter of sale, and possession "to keep always." And, it was said "nauhcampa tehtica conmotlac yn ocā mamani Estacas." (Mexico City, 1630)
James Lockhart, personal collection, folder called "Land and Economy." Cites AGN (Mexico) Tierras 442, exp. 5, fols. 7v, 12v.
onicnocalaquili inpan posesion Omotlamochili Omotlaxihutemili Omopaxialolti ipan in itlalcoaltzin inescaCallo Quimocuyli posesion Cualllotica allac Otlachalani Otlapalolo = I introduced him into possession; he threw stones, mashed down the grass, and strolled about on his purchased land signifying that he took possession properly; no one disputed it, there was acceptance
The verb is based on Spanish pasear. It is still in today's dialects. See Gonzalez Casanova, Cuentos Indigenas, p.22
Beyond the Codices, eds. Arthur J.O. Anderson, Frances Berdan, and James Lockhart (Los Angeles: UCLA Latin American Center, 1976), Doc. 17, 106–107, n10.
pusecion = posesión (possession); the granting of possession involved some throwing of weeds, etc. (Santa Barbara Xolal[pa], Toluca city, 1701)
Stephanie Wood collection, notes from Nahuatl documents in the file "Bills of Sale," citing Archivo General del Estado de México, RPEM 6, exp. 8, ff. 1r.–2r.
motocayotia Puzesiun = called posesión; also written here as: posesiun (Santa Barbara Xolal[pa], Toluca city, 1710)
Stephanie Wood collection, notes from Nahuatl documents in the file "Bills of Sale," citing Archivo General del Estado de México, RPEM 6, exp. 5, ff. 10r.–11v.
inic allac quiContradisiroa in posesion quimotlania = how one contradicts the requested possession (Azcapotzalco, 1738)
Beyond the Codices, eds. Arthur J.O. Anderson, Frances Berdan, and James Lockhart (Los Angeles: UCLA Latin American Center, 1976), Doc. 17, 104–105.
allac OquiContradisiro in posesion OquimoCuili = since no one contradicted the possession that [the Castillian] took (Azcapotzalco, 1738)
Beyond the Codices, eds. Arthur J.O. Anderson, Frances Berdan, and James Lockhart (Los Angeles: UCLA Latin American Center, 1976), Doc. 17, 106–107.
quemotlania Anparo de poseSion (Azcapotzalco, 1738)
Beyond the Codices, eds. Arthur J.O. Anderson, Frances Berdan, and James Lockhart (Los Angeles: UCLA Latin American Center, 1976), Doc. 17.
ypan Amal de poSeSion = in the document of possession (San Pedro Calimaya, Toluca Valley, 1763)
Caterina Pizzigoni, ed., Testaments of Toluca (Stanford: Stanford University Press and UCLA Latin American Center Publications, 2007), 200.
The posesión sometimes accompanied a bill of sale of land, and served as a memory of the performance of the rite of giving possession, drawing from Spanish tradition.
Rebecca Horn and James Lockhart, "Mundane Documents in Nahuatl," in in James Lockhart, Lisa Sousa, and Stephanie Wood, eds., Sources and Methods for the Study of Postconquest Mesoamerican Ethnohistory, Preliminary Version (e-book) (Eugene, Ore.: Wired Humanities Project, 2007, 2010), 6.