Principal English Translation:
a grassy field or meadow; open plains (see Molina)
Alonso de Molina:
zacatla. yeruazal, o prado.
Alonso de Molina, Vocabulario en lengua castellana y mexicana y mexicana y castellana, 1571, part 2, Nahuatl to Spanish, f. 13v. col. 1. Thanks to Joe Campbell for providing the transcription.
Attestations from sources in English:
Intlacouh, inzacapech in ueuetque. Inin tlatolli, itechpa mitoaya: inic yancuican acico chichimeca ueuetque, in oc quauhtla, in oc zacatla. = The beds of twigs and straw of the ancients. This was said about the ancient Chichimecas when they first arrived. It was still forest and open plains.
Thelma D. Sullivan, "Nahuatl Proverbs, Conundrums, and Metaphors, Collected by Sahagún," Estudios de Cultura Náhuatl 4 (1963), 174–175.
Attestations from sources in Spanish:
I zan omocalaqui, in cuauhtla, i zacatla; ihuan inehuian omoquixti in axixpan, in cuitlapan = Sólo por su propia voluntad se metió en el bosque, en el zacatal; él mismo se metió en los orinaderos, en el lugar del excremento (centro de México, s. XVI)
Josefina García Quintana, "Exhortación de un padre a su hijo; texto recogido por Andrés de Olmos," Estudios de Cultura Náhuatl 11 (1974), 158–159.