Principal English Translation:
a short time, soon (see Karttunen), a little while (see Lockhart)
Orthographic Variants:
achitzincauitl, achitzincahuitl
Alonso de Molina:
Achitzinca. vn poco de interualo, o espacio de tiempo. Aduerb.
Achitzincauitl. idem.
Alonso de Molina, Vocabulario en lengua mexicana y castellana, 1571, (www.idiez.org.mx), f. 2r.
achitzincauitl. vn poco de interualo, o espacio de tiempo. aduerbio.
Alonso de Molina, Vocabulario en lengua castellana y mexicana y mexicana y castellana, 1571, part 2, Nahuatl to Spanish, f. 2r. col. 2. Thanks to Joe Campbell for providing the transcription.
Frances Karttunen:
ACHIHTZINCA soon, a short time / un poco de intervalo, o espacio de tiempo (M) See ACHI.
Frances Karttunen, An Analytical Dictionary of Nahuatl (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1992), 2.
Horacio Carochi / English:
achìtzinca = a short time
Horacio Carochi, S.J., Grammar of the Mexican language with an explanation of its adverbs (1645), translated and edited with commentary by James Lockhart, UCLA Latin American Studies Volume 89 (Stanford: Stanford University Press, UCLA Latin American Center Publications, 2001), 354–55, 496.
Lockhart’s Nahuatl as Written:
achihtzīnca = a very short time, a little while
James Lockhart, Nahuatl as Written: Lessons in Older Written Nahuatl, with Copious Examples and Texts (Stanford: Stanford University Press and UCLA Latin American Studies, 2001), 210.
Attestations from sources in English:
achitzinca (adverb) = a little while, a short time
Daniel Garrison Brinton, Ancient Nahuatl Poetry: Containing the Nahuatl Text of XXVII Ancient Mexican Poems (1887), 149.
Attestations from sources in Spanish:
Auh in axcan achitzinca otihuallachix, otihualmozcali, otihualizcallohuac, otihualchamahuac, yuhqimma titototzintli qui ye timotlachopinilia = Y ahora, por breve tiempo, has venido a mirar, has venido a crecer, has venido a echar tallos, has venido a embarnecer, como si fueras un pajarito apenas puedes picotear
Huehuehtlahtolli. Testimonios de la antigua palabra, ed. Librado Silva Galeana y un estudio introductorio por Miguel León-Portilla (México: Secretaría de Educación Pública, Fondo de Cultura Económica, 1991), 48–49.
achitzinca = un momento, un instante
Rémi Siméon, Diccionario de la lengua náhuatl o mexicana (1977), 11.