nahuatlato.

Headword: 
nahuatlato.
Principal English Translation: 

a speaker of Nahuatl who worked as an interpreter between those speaking Nahuatl and those speaking Spanish or another indigenous language; typically a native speaker of Nahuatl but could also have been someone else who learned Nahuatl well; sometimes also called a translator

Orthographic Variants: 
nahuatlahto, navatlato, nauatlato, nahuatlatoc
Alonso de Molina: 

nauatlato. faraute o interprete.
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.

Attestations from sources in English: 

omomiquilli yn Juan grande español. nahuatlahtohuaya itlantzinco tlahtohuani visurrey. cenca ohuehuetitia yhuan miec xihuitl onahuatlahto yn intloctzinco oc cequintzitzin teteuhctin tlahtoque visurreyesme yn izquintin ye hualmohuica nican ipan nueua españa, hualmotlahtocatilia, auh huel cualli tlacatl ocatca yn omoteneuh Juan grande, amo imca omocacayahuaya macehualtzitzinti in Pleito quihualchihua imixpantzinco visurreyesme, yn iuhqui oc ce tlacatl catca yn achtopa omic nahuatlahto yn itoca catca franco de leyba ynic tlahueliloc catca cẽca quintoliniaya macehualtzitzinti, auh Auh yn omoteneu[h Juan gr]ande in nican Mexico Tenuchtitlan Gouer[nador catca] yehuatl iyaxca catca quimomaquilitia [in tlahto]huani Visurrey Don luis de velasco Marques [de sali]nas. ca macuilxihuitl yn itech ocatca gouernacio = passed away Juan Grande, a Spaniard, who interpreted for the lord viceroy; he died very old, and for many years he interpreted for other lords viceroys, all those who have come here to New Spain and ruled. The said Juan Grande was a very good person; he did not cheat poor commoners who come to bring suit before the viceroys, like another person who interpreted, who died earlier, whose name was Francisco de Leiva; he was evil and greatly mistreated the poor commoners. The said Juan Grande was governor here in Mexico Tenochtitlan; [the office] belonged to him, given to him by the lord viceroy don Luis de Velasco, Marqués de Salinas, and for five years he held the governorship (central Mexico, 1615)
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), 304–5.

in nahuatlatoque yehuatl in marina. yhuā Thomas. = The interpreters were Marina and Tomás. (central Mexico, early seventeenth century)
Codex Chimalpahin: Society and Politics in Mexico Tenochtitlan, Tlatelolco, Culhuacan, and Other Nahuatl Altepetl in Central Mexico; The Nahuatl and Spanish Annals and Accounts Collected and Recorded by don Domingo de San Antón Muñón Chimalpahin Quauhtlehuanitzin, eds. and transl. Arthur J. O. Anderson and Susan Schroeder (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1997), vol. 2, 198–199.

franCO de leyba. ynahuatlahtocauh catca visurrey. ynin cenca tlamamauhtiaya nohuiyampa ỹtoca timacehualti ynic cenca tlahueliloc huel teahuani catca yn ipã tleyn tequitl mochihuaya huel tentlahueliloc camachichi catca ayac quixittaya mael gouernadoresme amo tle yc quinmahuiztiliaya yhuan cenca teca omocacayauhtia = Francisco de Leiva passed away; he was the viceroy's interpreter, whose name greatly frightened us commoners everywhere because he was very bad, he used to really scold people about whatever tribute duty was being performed. He really had a bad mouth and spoke bitterly. He respected no one; even though it was a governor he showed no respect. And he greatly cheated people. (central Mexico, 1612)
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), 228–229.

yehuatl navatlato luys de la torre = Luis de la Torre as interpreter (Tlaxcala, 1547)
Beyond the Codices, eds. Arthur J.O. Anderson, Frances Berdan, and James Lockhart (Los Angeles: UCLA Latin American Center, 1976), Doc. 22, 122–123.

Juā bapta. mestiço nahuatlato = Juan Bautista, a mestizo interpreter (central Mexico, early seventeenth century)
Codex Chimalpahin: Society and Politics in Mexico Tenochtitlan, Tlatelolco, Culhuacan, and Other Nahuatl Altepetl in Central Mexico; The Nahuatl and Spanish Annals and Accounts Collected and Recorded by don Domingo de San Antón Muñón Chimalpahin Quauhtlehuanitzin, eds. and transl. Arthur J. O. Anderson and Susan Schroeder (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1997), vol. 1, 172–173.

translator
Susan Kellogg, Law and the Transformation of Aztec Culture, 1500–1700 (Norman and London: The University of Oklahoma Press, 1995), 225.

azcapotzalco. quimacato. possion. Juan grande nahuatlahto. yn Don Antonio valeriano telpochtli, vmpa quicahuato. ynic Juez gouernador vmpa mochihuato, compatlato. Don Balthasar min. vmpa Juez gouernador catca. nican S. Pablo ҫoquipan ychan auh ynin omoteneuh Don Antonio valeriano telpochtli fiscal catca. ỹ nican S. Joseph. S. Franco. yn onca yehuac yc mohuicac azcapotzalco, ynin telpochtli, yxhuiuhtzin. yn tlacatl huehue Don Antonio valeriano ychantzinco azcapotzalco. in miyec xihuitl. nican omoJuezgouernadortilico, Mexico tenochtitlan, ypãpa yn inamictzin cihuapilli Doña isabel de aluarado, yn ichpochtzin catca tlacatl Don diego de aluarado. huanitzin tlahtohuani catca tenochtitlan = Juan Grande, interpreter, took don Antonio Valeriano the younger to Azcapotzalco to give him possession of office, he having been appointed judge-governor there. He replaced don Baltasar Martín, who was judge-governor there and is from San Pablo Ҫoquipan here. This said don Antonio Valeriano the younger was fiscal here at San Josef at San Francisco, and he left there when he went to Azcapotzalco. This young man is the grandchild of the lord don Antonio Valeriano the elder, from Azcapotzalco, who served as judge-governor for many years here in Mexico Tenochtitlan, because his spouse was the lady doña Isabel de Alvarado, who was the daughter of the lord don Diego de Alvarado Huanitzin, who was a ruler of Tenochtitlan (central Mexico, 1611)
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), 192–3.

don Juan Cempoallan was a Tetzcocan interpreter at the time of the battles of conquest in the early sixteenth century (central Mexico, early seventeenth century)
Codex Chimalpahin: Society and Politics in Mexico Tenochtitlan, Tlatelolco, Culhuacan, and Other Nahuatl Altepetl in Central Mexico; The Nahuatl and Spanish Annals and Accounts Collected and Recorded by don Domingo de San Antón Muñón Chimalpahin Quauhtlehuanitzin, eds. and transl. Arthur J. O. Anderson and Susan Schroeder (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1997), vol. 2, 194–195.

A "nauatlato" is active in conversations between the Chichimeca Tolteca and the Olmeca Xicalanca in the area of Cholula. (sixteenth century, Quauhtinchan)
Historia Tolteca-Chichimeca, eds. Paul Kirchhoff, Lina Odena Güemes, y Luis Reyes García (México: CISINAH, INAH-SEP, 1976), 164.

Attestations from sources in Spanish: 

Niman ya yc ualquiza y nauatlato yn couatzin niman ya uallatoua qui[lh]uia yn icxicouatl yn quetzalteueyac ac ameuan campa auitze = Luego ya sale Couatzin, intérprete del nauatl, ya habla; le dice a Icxicouatl y a Quetzalteueyac:
Quiénes son ustedes? De donde vienen? (Quauhtinchan, s. XVI)
Historia Tolteca-Chichimeca, eds. Paul Kirchhoff, Lina Odena Güemes, y Luis Reyes García (México: CISINAH, INAH-SEP, 1976), 183, 164.

ca mochi inin amatl nican altepepan mo cahua yhuan yn tliltlaquiloli yn oquimo tlilmachiotili ymaticasinco yn huey tlatoani nahautlato ton elnando tealpalado tesosomoctli mo nahua tlatoltia tlacpac tlasontecoyan palasio ca on pan otlasontecoc = Pues, todos éstos papeles aquí en este pueblo (de San Pedro) quedan guardados, y también el escrito que escribió con su puño y letra el gran Señor intérprete del idioma náhuatl ó mexicano, Don Hernando de Alvarado Tezozomoztli, el que habla el dicho idioma allá Arriba, en el lugar de la Justicia, el Palacio (Estado de Hidalgo, ca. 1722?)
Rocío Cortés, El "nahuatlato Alvarado" y el Tlalamatl Huauhquilpan: Mecanismos de la memoria colectiva de una comunidad indígena (New York: Hispanic Seminary of Medieval Studies, Colonial Spanish American Series, 2011), 33–34, 45.

nahuatlato Dn, Ernando de albarado ttesosomoctli = Don Hernando de Alvarado Tezozomoctli Intérprete de Náhuatl (Estado de Hidalgo, ca. 1722?)
Rocío Cortés, El "nahuatlato Alvarado" y el Tlalamatl Huauhquilpan: Mecanismos de la memoria colectiva de una comunidad indígena (New York: Hispanic Seminary of Medieval Studies, Colonial Spanish American Series, 2011), 31, 42.

inahuatlatocauh Aloso de Sescoual = su traductor del náhuatl era Alonso de Escobar (Tlaxcala, 1662–1692)
Juan Buenaventura Zapata y Mendoza, Historia cronológica de la Noble Ciudad de Tlaxcala, transcripción paleográfica, traducción, presentación y notas por Luis Reyes García y Andrea Martínez Baracs (Tlaxcala and México: Universidad Autónoma de Tlaxcala, Secretaría de Extensión Universitaria y Difusión Cultural, y Centro de Investigaciones y Estudios Superiores en Antropología Social, 1995), 232–233.

nahuatlato Bernardino Dabila scribano cabildo Juan Miguel = traductor del náhuatl Bernardino Dávila; escribano de cabildo, Juan Miguel (Tlaxcala, 1662–1692)
Juan Buenaventura Zapata y Mendoza, Historia cronológica de la Noble Ciudad de Tlaxcala, transcripción paleográfica, traducción, presentación y notas por Luis Reyes García y Andrea Martínez Baracs (Tlaxcala and México: Universidad Autónoma de Tlaxcala, Secretaría de Extensión Universitaria y Difusión Cultural, y Centro de Investigaciones y Estudios Superiores en Antropología Social, 1995), 288–289..

yquac calac çano mextiço nahuatlato ytoca Josep Babian Leonardo ytlacotia xihuitl tequimacoc quicalaqui Nicolas Medez yhuan don Juan Nicolas gobernador amo ytecopa mochiuh y pipiltin nahui cabiçera = Entonces entró también un mestizo como intérprete del náhuatl, el llamado Jose Fabián Leonardo. A mediados de año le fue dado el cargo, lo metieron Nicolás Méndez y el gobernador don Juan Nicolás. Se hizo sin la autorización de los pipiltin de las cuatro cabeceras. (Tlaxcala, 1662–1692)
Juan Buenaventura Zapata y Mendoza, Historia cronológica de la Noble Ciudad de Tlaxcala, transcripción paleográfica, traducción, presentación y notas por Luis Reyes García y Andrea Martínez Baracs (Tlaxcala and México: Universidad Autónoma de Tlaxcala, Secretaría de Extensión Universitaria y Difusión Cultural, y Centro de Investigaciones y Estudios Superiores en Antropología Social, 1995), 312–313.

auh tel yehua[n] q'[ui]mati y[n] nahuatlatoque ca ça[n] teocuitlatica yn oq'[ui]chiuhque yn oq'[ui]ztlacatlalique tlatolli = Y más, los traductores saben que lo hicieron por medio de oro y dijeron mentiras. (ca. 1582, México)
Luis Reyes García, ¿Como te confundes? ¿Acaso no somos conquistados? Anales de Juan Bautista (México: Centro de Investigaciones y Estudios Superiores en Antropología Social, Biblioteca Lorenzo Boturini Insigne y Nacional Basílica de Guadalupe, 2001), 138–139.