tecpillahtoa.

Headword: 
tecpillahtoa.
Principal English Translation: 

to speak politely and curiously (see Molina); formal conversation (see Sahagún)
Fr. Bernardino de Sahagún, Florentine Codex: General History of the Things of New Spain; Book 6 -- Rhetoric and Moral Philosophy, No. 14, Part 7, eds. and transl. Arthur J. O. Anderson and Charles E. Dibble (Santa Fe and Salt Lake City: School of American Research and the University of Utah, 1961), 1.

Orthographic Variants: 
tecpillatoa
IPAspelling: 
teːkpillɑhtoɑ
Alonso de Molina: 

tecpillatoa. ni. (pret. onitecpillato.) hablar cortes y curiosamente.
Alonso de Molina, Vocabulario en lengua castellana y mexicana y mexicana y castellana, 1571, part 2, Nahuatl to Spanish, f. 93r. col. 2. Thanks to Joe Campbell for providing the transcription.

Attestations from sources in English: 

NICAN VMPEOA: INJC CHIQUANCEN AMUXTLI, VNCAN MOTENEOA IN TLATLATLAUHTILIZTLATOLLI: INJC QUJNTLATLAUHTIAIA INTEVAN CATCA: YOAN IN JUH TECPILLATOVAIA, INJC QUJMATIA RETHORICA, IOAN IN PHILOSOPHIA MORAL: IN JUH NEZTICA IN JPAN TLATOLLI. = HERE BEGINNETH THE SIXTH BOOK, IN WHICH ARE TOLD THE VARIOUS WORDS OF PRAYER WITH WHICH THEY PRAYED TO THOSE WHO WERE GODS; AND HOW THEY MADE FORMAL CONVERSATION, THROUGH WHICH THEY DISPLAYED RHETORIC AND MORAL PHILOSOPHY, AS IS EVIDENT IN THE DISCOURSES. (central Mexico, sixteenth century)
Fr. Bernardino de Sahagún, Florentine Codex: General History of the Things of New Spain; Book 6 -- Rhetoric and Moral Philosophy, No. 14, Part 7, eds. and transl. Arthur J. O. Anderson and Charles E. Dibble (Santa Fe and Salt Lake City: School of American Research and the University of Utah, 1961), 1.

themes: 
Speech, Speaking, Oral Tradition