1. Side, corner, edge; he-hakarere a te tapa, to leave aside, to abandon; a te tapa mata'u o te haga, on the right-hand side of the bay. 2. Tapa mahute, piece of mahute material; this term is very common nowadays, but it seems probable that it was borrowed from the Tahitian in replacement of parehe mahute. 3. To recount the years, the months; to recount happenings of many years ago, in verses called manu, in which a murderer confided his crime to his victim's relatives; the murderer himself asked a brother or a friend to compose those verses: e tapa koe itooku manu, compose my manu. The expression tapa ite manu was also used of a group of people expressing the desire to kill someone. 4. Tagata tapa ta'u, according to traditions, this term referred to the scribes who recorded births on the tablets. Vanaga.

1. Border, fringe, edge, groin, cloth, clothing, dress, garment. Tatapa, lateral, bank. Tapatapa, edge. P Mgv.: tapa, the edge of the bast cloth, bast cloth in general. Mq.: tapa, fringe, cloth. 2. To name, to mention, to count, to calculate, to reckon, to number, to figure up, to recapitulate; tapa ki te igoa, to take a census; tapa igoa, list. Tatapa, to count, to number, to reckon. Tapatapa, to mention. P Mgv.: tapa, to give a pet name. Mq.: tapatapa, to recite, to invoke; tatapa, to take the name of some one, to announce by name. Ta.: tapa, to call by name. Churchill.

Mq.: Tapaau, coconut leaf plaited to serve as a mat. Sa: tapa'au, a coarse coconut leaf mat. Tapatai, a dweller on the strand. Ma.: tapatai, beach. Churchill.

Fornander:

"Kapa¹, adj. Haw., rustling, rattling; s. cloth made of bark, cloth of any kind.

Sam.: tapa, to beckon with the hand, to deman; s. the white border of a siapo; tapa-au, mat made of cocoa-nut leaf.

Tong., tapa, id.; kapa-kapa, to flap with a noise as wings of birds.

Marqu., tapa, bark cloth.

Tah., tapa-ie, envelop in leaves; apa, the lining of a garment; apa-a, thick cloth made by men, not by the women; 'apa'apa, to flap as sail or the wings of a bird.

Fiji., kava, a roll of sinnet; kaba, to climb.

Motu (N. Guinea), kava, bark girdle for men. Biaju, tepoh, a mat. Salayer (Celebes), tupur, id. Malag., komba, a monkey. Kawi, kapala, a horse.

Sanskr., kamp, to move to and fro, to tremble; chapala ('i.e., kampa-ala', Benfey), trembling, unsteady, giddy; châpala, quickness; kapi ('i.e., kamp-i', Benfey), a monkey. Perhaps kambala, a wollen blanket.

Greek, καμπη, bending, winding, as a river, turn, trick, sudden change.

A. Pictet (Orig. Ind.-Eur., i. 347-348) derives the Greek καβαλλης, a nag, and other kindred West Aryan forms for horse and its varieties, as well as καπρος, a wild boar, and caper, a buck, from the Kawi or obselete Sanskrit application of the original sense, 'to tremble, rustle, flap', found in the Sanskrit kap, kamp, and the Polynesian kapa, tapa.

Kapa², s. Haw., a bank, shore, side, as of a river, lake, wood, or the like.

Rarot., tapa, id.

Tah., apa'apa, one side of a thing when divided, the side of a house.

Sam., tafa, the side of a hill; v. to turn on one side; tafa-fa, four-sided; tafatafa, the side; tafa-tasi, one-sided; tafa-to, perpendicular, steep as seen from above; tafa-tu, id., as seen from below.

Marqu., tapa-hai, coral; kapa-i, on the side of the sea.

Fiji., taba, wing, shoulder, branch, one side.

Malg., taf, tafo, the roof of a house; tambon, above.

Welsh, tab, tav, an extended surface, a spread; tob, top, top, crest; cop, summit. Irish, capat, head. Armor., kab, id.

Lat., tabula, board, plank, table; caput, head.

Sanskr., kapala, skull, head, either half of an egg; kapola, cheek, the temples of the head. Pers., kabah, elevation, eminence; tabrak, tabûk, table, flat.

Greek, κεφαλη, head, top, upper end.

Goth., haubith, head. Sax., heafod, id.; hafala, hafula, head, casque. Anc. Germ., haupit, head; hufela, the temples. Germ., kopf, head.

A. Pictet (loc. cit., ii. 273) refers the Persian tabrak and the Latin tabula to Sanskrit sthâ, or perhaps stabh, tabula, for stabula, and (i. 308) he says, speaking of the Sanskrit kapala, and its West Aryan relations: - 'J'y trouve un composé de pâla, protecteur, avec l'interrogatif ka, dans le sense laudatif. Quel (bon) protecteur! on ne saurait mieux caractériser le rôle naturel du crâne. Or kapât et kapâ ou kapa auraient la même signification; car pât, pâ, pa, à la fin des composés, sont synonymes de pâla, et dérivent également de la racine pâ, tueri.'

Under correction, the 'quel bon protecteur' of Mr. Pictet appears to me a singular and fatal misnomer of the most prominent and most exposed part of the body. The original meaning of the Polynesian word was probably something raised, spread out, obtruding, projecting, beyond or above the common level of things. Hence such compound words in the Polynesian as kapa-au, Haw., the raised place of the Heiau (temple), where the image of the god stood and offerings were laid; 'apa-'au, Sam., a wing; 'apa-'apa, the fin of a fish; apa-ta, to clap the wings.

The West Aryan forms: Lat., cap-ut, cap-pilus (capillus); the Irish cap-at, alongside of ceap and cap; the double forms in the Goth. and Sax., hau-ith, heaf-od, and hafa-la, hofu-la, seem to indicate a different composition and root for themselves, as well as the Sanskrit and Greek, than what Mr. Pictet offers. And the probably primary sense of 'elevation, eminence', in the root-word has survived in the Persian kabah, the Armorian kab, the Welsh tob or top."