He must have decided to
locate in his text - where (when)
Sun crossed over the equator (at equinox) on
his way
down to the southern hemisphere - what at
first glance appears to be a Moon calendar.
But the reader would then
quickly discover that the central picture of
a full moon had a 'fire' person inside, a
person which signified Summer when there was
plenty to eat (kai). The 'egg', if
containing Summer, could not happen every
month:
From my suggestions it
should
now be clear why people said
there was an old woman (nuahine) residing in front of
an umu in the face of Moon:
|
Nuahine
Nuahine.
1. Old woman. 2. Ko te
Nuahine ká umu a ragi kotekote,
ancient name of 'the woman in
the moon' inspired by the
resemblance of its landscape
with the likeness of a woman
sitting, lighting the fire of
her oven. Vanaga.
Nuehine.
Old woman. Churchill.
"[Englert 1948,
165:] '... se selia nombrar
Ko te Nuahine káumu ŕ rangi kote
kote que significa: La vieja
que enciende el curanto en el
cielo kotekote. Puedo
haber sido una personificación
de la luna porque las viejos
decían, comentando este nombre,
que no es una montańa que seve
en la luna, sino una mujer
anciana que está suntada
[sentada?] al lado un gran
curanto umu pae (de
piedras en circulo)." (Barthel) |
The
Old Woman (te Nuahine) would
light a fire (ká-umu) for (a)
the 'broken sky' (ragi kotekote).
|
A
A.
1. Prep.: for, over, by;
a nei, over here; a
ruga, above; a te
tapa, by the side. 2.
Genitive particle, used
preceding proper names and
singular personal pronouns:
te poki a Mateo,
Mateo's child; aana te
kai, the food is his. 3.
Particle often used before
nouns and pronouns,
especially when these are
introduced by a preposition
such as i, ki; ki a îa,
to him, for him. Vanaga.
Á.
1. Á or also just a,
article often used preceding
proper names and used in the
meaning of 'son of...':
Hei á Paega, Hei, son of
Paenga. 2. Very common
abbreviation of the particle
ana, used following
verbs: ku-oti-á =
ku-oti-ana; peira-á =
peira-ana. 3. (Also
á-á.) Exclamation
expressing surprise or joy,
which can also be used as a
verb: he-aha-koe,
e-á-ana? what's
happening with you, that you
should exclaim 'ah'? He
tu'u au e-tahi raá ki te
hare o Eva i Puapae.
I-űi-mai-era ki a au,
he-á-á-mai, he-tagi-mai
'ka-ohomai, e repa ę'.
one day I came to Eva's
house in Puapae. Upon seeing
me she exclaimed: 'ah, ah'
and she said, crying:
'Welcome, lad'. Vanaga. |
|
Ragi
Ra'i,
T. 1. Sky. 2. Palace. 3.
Prince. Henry.
1. Sky,
heaven, firmament; ragi
moana, blue sky. 2.
Cloud; ragipuga,
cumulus; ragitea,
white, light clouds; ragi
poporo, nimbus; ragi
hoe ka'i cirrus
(literally: like sharp
knives); ragi viri,
overcast sky; ragi
kerekere, nimbus
stratus; ragi kirikiri
miro, clouds of various
colours. 3. To call, to
shout, to exclaim. Vanaga.
1. Sky,
heaven, firmament, paradise;
no te ragi,
celestial. 2. Appeal, cry,
hail, formula, to invite,
to send for, to notify, to
felicitate, precept, to
prescribe, to receive, to
summon; ragi no to
impose; ragi tarotaro,
to menace, to threaten;
tagata ragi, visitor;
ragikai, feast,
festival; ragitea,
haughty, dominating. 3.
Commander. 4. To love, to be
affectionate, to spare,
sympathy, kind treatment;
ragi kore, pitiless;
ragi nui, faithful.
Churchill.
Modoc,
a language used on the
northwest coast of North
America: 'A single word,
lagi, was used both for
the chief and for a rich man
who possessed several wives,
horses, armour made of
leather or wooden slats,
well-filled quivers and
precious firs. In addition
to owning these material
assets, the chief had to win
military victories, possess
exceptional spiritual powers
and display a gift for
oratory.' (The Naked Man) |
|
Koti
Kotikoti.
To cut with scissors (since
this is an old word and
scissors do not seem to have
existed, it must mean
something of the kind).
Vanaga.
Kotikoti. To tear;
kokoti, to cut, to chop,
to hew, to cleave, to
assassinate, to amputate, to
scar, to notch, to carve, to
use a knife, to cut off, to
lop, to gash, to mow, to
saw; kokotiga kore,
indivisible; kokotihaga,
cutting, gash furrow. P
Pau.: koti, to chop.
Mgv.: kotikoti, to
cut, to cut into bands or
slices; kokoti, to
cut, to saw; akakotikoti,
a ray, a streak, a stripe,
to make bars. Mq.: koti,
oti, to cut, to
divide. Ta.: oóti, to
cut, to carve; otióti,
to cut fine. Churchill.
Pau.:
Koti, to gush, to spout.
Ta.: oti, to rebound,
to fall back. Kotika,
cape, headland. Ta.: otiá,
boundary, limit. Churchill. |
It is Moon herself
who is the Old Woman. The 'fire' she
is preparing inside her 'umu'
seems to be the
Summer (kai) person and a
result of the broken sky ('ruler'). At the time of New
Moon, when she is not visible, this
was because Sun was at her back
and half a month later she had
grown to full size:
... When the new moon appeared women
assembled and bewailed those who had
died since the last one, uttering
the following lament: 'Alas! O moon!
Thou has returned to life, but our
departed beloved ones have not. Thou
has bathed in the waiora a Tane,
and had thy life renewed, but there
is no fount to restore life to our
departed ones. Alas ...
"Fifteen days after
the appearance of the moon it
reaches the turu stage.
Fifteen days after the turu
stage it becomes mutuwhenua -
that is, the moon is overcome by the
sun, which carries it off into
darkness. When abandoned by the sun
it appears again." (Makemson)
|
Turu
To come down, to
go down, to descend;
ka-turu-age koe ki tai, go
down to the sea now; turuga,
coming down, descent.
Vanaga.
1. To fall in
drops, to flow, to leak, to
descend, a drop; turu ki tai,
to take refuge at sea;
hakaturu, to cause to
descend, to lower, to take
soundings; hakaturuturu,
to heave and pitch. Turuga,
declivity. Turuvai, water
conduit. P Mgv.: akaturu,
to conduct water in a drain.
Ta.: tuturu, to fall in
drops. 2. To stay, to prop. T
Pau.: turu, a post,
pillar, to sustain. Mgv.:
turu, a support, rod, stay,
to sustain. Ta.: turu,
stay, support; turuturu,
posts of a house. Ha.: kukulu,
a pillar, a post. 3. To come,
to arrive, to overcome; tehe
e turu, through and through;
hakarava hakaturu,
quadrangular. Churchill. |
Inside a freshly laid egg the
contents are fluid. The kai
gesture can quite possibly
have been a gesture not
of eating but of drinking (unu):
|
Unu
1. To drink; unuga, the
act of drinking. 2. To pull
weeds, grasses. 3. To pluck;
ka-unu te huruhuru o te moa!
pluck the chicken's feathers!
Únu-únu, to bask in the sun
(ki te raá), to warm
oneself by the fire (ki te
ahi ). Vanaga.
To drink,
liquor. Unuga, to drink.
Hakaunu, to slake thirst.
Hakaunuora, to water. P
Mgv.: unu, to drink. Mq.,
Ta.: inu, id. Unuvai,
to drink water; hipu unuvai,
drinking glass. Churchill. |
I have read somewhere
that anciently - before
drinking vessels became popular - people cupped their
hands with fresh water and splashed it
into their mouths. And once I speculated
as to what Sun possibly could have
'eaten' before noon:
From Ogotemmęli I
learned the answer:
'The rays drink up the little waters of
the earth, the shallow pools, making
them rise, and then descend again in
rain.' Then, leaving aside the question
of water, he summed up his argument: 'To
draw up and then return what one had
drawn - that is the life of the world.'
A 'proof' is given by the double
(Moon-influenced) and
forward oriented (return) sign which
Metoro said was ua (rain):
 |
|
ua |
|
unu |
drink |
unu-unu |
bask in the sun |
|
kai |
eat |
kai-kai |
string game (with both
hands) |
| |
|
ua |
rain |
ua-ua |
resident or tendons |
|
