something that is provoking, makes someone cry, or something worthy of crying over (see Molina)
Alonso de Molina:
techocti. cosa que prouoca, o haze llorar, o cosa digna de llorar. Alonso de Molina, Vocabulario en lengua castellana y mexicana y mexicana y castellana, 1571, part 2, Nahuatl to Spanish, f. 92v. col. 1. Thanks to Joe Campbell for providing the transcription.