nahuatilli.

Headword: 
nahuatilli.
Principal English Translation: 

an obligation; a law or a constitution; or, a rule (in music)

Orthographic Variants: 
navatilli, nauatilli
IPAspelling: 
nɑwɑtiːlli
Alonso de Molina: 

nauatilli. ley o constitucion.
Alonso de Molina, Vocabulario en lengua castellana y mexicana y mexicana y castellana, 1571, part 2, Nahuatl to Spanish, f. 063v. col. 2. v. col. 2. Thanks to Joe Campbell for providing the transcription.

Frances Karttunen: 

NAHUATĪL-LI law, obligation, constitution / ley o constitución (M) [(2)Cf.84r,87v]. See NAHUATIĀ.
Frances Karttunen, An Analytical Dictionary of Nahuatl (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1992), 157.

Attestations from sources in English: 

ynin cenavatil ynin necentlaliliz, Ticcentlalia ynyn Cofradia = this one command, this accord. We convene this cofradía. (Tula, 1570)
John Frederick Schwaller, "Constitution of the Cofradía del Santíssimo Sacramento of Tula, Hidalgo, 1570," Estudios de Cultura Náhuatl 19 (1989), 220–221.

intonenununtzal intonavatil = our accord, our law (Tula, 1570)
John Frederick Schwaller, "Constitution of the Cofradía del Santíssimo Sacramento of Tula, Hidalgo, 1570," Estudios de Cultura Náhuatl 19 (1989), 220–221.

Tenonotzaliztli ic momelauhacacaquiltiz in moyolcuitia, in quenin, huel ynahuatil in teyolcuitiani in huel qnipiaz, huel quitlatiz in tetlatlacol, ypampa in maçehualtin ca niman àmo yuh quimati, ypampa in mochipa, quitlatia in huehuei tlatlacoli. = Admonitory speech with which he is confessing is correctly given to understand how the confessor is very obligated to guard and hide well other people's sins, because the natives do not regard it as that way at all, wherefore they always hide the big sins.
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), 65.

tonahuatil, in tococol = our law 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), 250.

cenca vey ynavatil yn confrariasme = very great obligation of the members of the cofradía
Fray Alonso de Molina, Nahua Confraternities in Early Colonial Mexico: The 1552 Nahuatl Ordinances of fray Alonso de Molina, OFM, ed. and trans., Barry D. Sell (Berkeley: Academy of American Franciscan History, 2002), 138–139.

ý tlatilanalli oqui macehu=aya noce canpa oquí cualytaya: y huan y ni n nahuatil. ynnetlaliloca, hic o hueyataque = In tlatila:nalli o:quimma:ce:huaya, noceh ca:mpa o:quicualytaya, i:hua:n in i:nnahuatil, in netla:liloca, i:c o:hueyataqueh = They peopled the territory, or where it looked good, and their law was that it could be settled if they grew.
Anónimo mexicano, ed. Richley H. Crapo and Bonnie Glass-Coffin (Logan, UT: Utah State University Press, 2005), 44.

Jn .4tlamantli ynveynahuatil yn qualtin xpiansome Confrariasme = the fourth great obligation of the good Christians who are members of the cofradia (Central Mexico, 1552)
Fray Alonso de Molina, Nahua Confraternities in Early Colonial Mexico: The 1552 Nahuatl Ordinances of fray Alonso de Molina, OFM, ed. and trans., Barry D. Sell (Berkeley: Academy of American Franciscan History, 2002), 88–89.

Attestations from sources in Spanish: 

'yn iuh ca navatilli' occepa = así está la ley otra vez (Cuauhtinchan, Puebla, s. XVI)
Luis Reyes García, "Ordenanzas para el gobierno de Cuauhtinchan, año de 1559," Estudios de Cultura Náhuatl 10 (1972), 256–257.

Tenonotzaliztli ic momelauhacacaquiltiz in moyolcuitia, in quenin, huel ynahuatil in teyolcuitiani in huel qnipiaz, huel quitlatiz in tetlatlacol, ypampa in maçehualtin ca niman àmo yuh quimati, ypampa in mochipa, quitlatia in huehuei tlatlacoli. = Platica, con la qual se le da á entender a el Penitente, el secreto que está obligado á tener el Confessor de los pecados que se les confiessan, por tener los Naturales muy entendido lo contrario, con que siempre niegan los pecados mas enormes.
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), 64–65.

yzcatliqui tono: pluscuaperfecto quituznequi quipanui: yn nahuatili yn maestro = pluscuamperfecto significa que escapa a la regla del maestro (seventeenth-century Guatemala)
Fernando Horcasitas y Alfred Lemmon, "El Tratado de Santa Eulalia: un manuscrito musical náhuatl," Tlalocan 12 (1997), 96–97.