|
Let us begin with
ehu:
| Ehu (cfr kehu)
Ehu ûa, drizzle. Vanaga.
Firebrand. Ehuehu: 1. Ashes. P
Mgv.: ehu, ashes, dust; rehu, a cinder,
ashes. Mq.: ehuahi, ashes. Ta.: rehu,
ashes, soot, any powder. 2. Brown, brownish. P Ta.:
ehuehu, red, reddish. Ha.: kehu, red or sandy
haired. Mq.: kehu, fair, blond. Mgv.:
keukeu-kura, id. Ma.: kehu, reddish brown.
Sa.: 'efu, id. To.: kefu, yellowish. Fu.:
kefu, blond, red. Niuē:
kefu, a
disrespectful term of address. Ragi ehuehu,
a cloudflecked sky. 3. Imperceptible. Churchill.
Pau.:
kehu,
flaxen-haired, blond. Ta.: ehu,
reddish. Mq.: kehu,
blond. Sa.: 'efu,
reddish, brown. Mq.: kehukehu,
twilight. Ha.: ehuehu,
darkness arising from dust, fog, or vapor. Churchill. |
| Kehu (cfr ehu)
Hidden; what cannot be seen because it is
covered; he-kehu te raá, said of the sun when it
has sunk below the horizon. Vanaga.
Kehu, hakakehu, to hide,
disguise, feint, feign, to lie in wait. Kekehu,
shoulder G. Churchill. |
There is a kind of logic
here. When the great fire has ended there are only ashes left. It is
as if the fire had been covered by a carpet of dust - he-kehu te
raá. Hawaiian ehuehu means darkness arising from dust,
fog, or vapour.
Sun is no longer a force to be respected - kefu they could
have said on Niuē.
In a separate page
from the item ehu in my Polynesian dictionary is enumerated the
possible uses of ehu (and the variants in other dialects):
| |
dust |
ashes |
vapor |
darkness |
twilight |
muddy |
| Samoa |
efu |
lefu |
|
nefu |
|
nefu |
| Tonga |
efu |
efu |
|
nefu |
nefu |
ehu |
| Niuē |
efu |
efu |
lefu |
|
|
|
| Uvea |
efu,
nefu |
efu,
lefu |
nefu |
nefu |
|
nefu |
|
Futuna |
efu |
lefu |
|
nefu |
|
|
|
Nukuoro |
rehu |
lefu |
|
|
|
|
| Maori |
nehu |
rehu |
ehu,
nehu, rehu |
rehu,
nehu |
|
ehu |
|
Moriori |
|
rehu |
|
|
|
|
|
Tahiti |
rehu |
rehu |
|
|
rehu |
ehu |
|
Marquesas |
ehu |
ehu |
|
|
ehu |
|
|
Rarotonga |
|
reu |
|
reu |
|
|
|
Mangareva |
ehu,
neu |
ehu,
rehu |
|
|
|
|
|
Hawaii |
ehu |
lehu |
ehu |
ehu,
lehu |
|
|
All 13 dialects have the basic meaning 'ashes', which is a
concept close to 'dust' (which 11 dialects also have). Only the
Moriori fishermen kept straight on the line.
Next we must notice how nehu / nefu appears to be used for ideas
close to but not on the line.
The 'ashes' column has rehu / reu / lehu / lefu in
addition to ehu / efu. It probably means that the basic
form is rehu, not ehu.
The important star Rehua (Antares in Scorpio) announces
the beginning of summer south of the equator:
... The Maori said Rehua (Antares, Ana-mua, the
'entrance pillar' of Tahiti) 'cooks' (ripens) all fruit, because
it inaugurated summer when it rose in the morning sky ...
Rehua is not rehu, but certainly we should assume
a wordplay involving 'ashes'. North of the equator Scorpio could
signify 'ashes', but south of the equator it can hardly do so.
Next we should involve also he-rehua (of Metoro):
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
Aa1-5 |
Aa1-6 |
Aa1-7 |
Aa1-8 |
Aa1-9 |
Aa1-10 |
| ko te moa |
e noho ana ki
te moa |
e moa te erueru |
e moa te
kapakapa |
e moa te herehua |
ka hora ka
tetea |
|
e moa te erueru |
Oh
rooster, who scratches diligently! |
|
e moa te kapakapa |
Oh
rooster, who beats his wings! |
|
e moa te herehua |
Oh
rooster, who ties up the fruit! |
|
ka
hora |
Spread out! |
|
ka
tetea |
Have many descendants! |
... Herehua can be translated as
'ties up the fruit' (Barthel 2). The
'fruit' is presumably the 'skull' of the
Sun King, and we should remember the
fate of this skull (cfr at hua poporo
and at ua), not to mention
how the skull of One Hunaphu
fascinated Blood Moon:
... And then the bone spoke; it was
there in the fork of the tree: Why do
you want a mere bone, a round thing in
the branches of a tree? said the head of
One Hunaphu when it spoke to the
maiden. You don't want it, she was told.
I do want it, said the maiden. Very
well. Stretch out your right hand here,
so I can see it, said the bone. Yes,
said the maiden. She stretched out her
right hand, up there in front of the
bone. And then the bone spit out its
saliva, which landed squarely in the
hand of the maiden ...
|
He Rehua could be Antares. Possibly this star indicates
also the end of summer, when he disappears from view in autumn:
"The generally
accepted version of the Rehua myth, according to Best, is
that Rehua had two wives, the stars on either side of
Antares. One was Ruhi-te-rangi or Pekehawani, the
personification of summer languor (ruhi), the other
Whaka-onge-kai, She-who-makes-food-scarce before the new
crops can be harvested." (Makemson)
Poike as 'the time of change of wife' fits with the
changed orientation of the head in Aa1-10, and the mention of
hora (summer) and tetea (growth) would seem to
indicate a change from winter to summer.
And then we should also notice how teatea is part of the
name of item 25, i.e. following ehu in 24 in a way
similar to how tetea follows herehua:
|
24 ko
ehu
ko mahatua a piki rangi a hakakihikihi mahina |
|
e moa
te herehua |
|
Aa1-9 |
|
25 ko
maunga
teatea
a pua katiki. |
|
ka hora
ka
tetea |
|
Aa1-10 |
|