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I realize that my earlier ideas about GD26 might need to be changed radically. I had created a preliminary item for my glyph dictionary, but it must go to the waste basket. However, there might be some value in it and therefore I first document it here.

In Bierbach it is convincingly demonstrated that ákuáku and some other words for 'spiritual' concepts on Easter Island ultimately derive from ideas connected with the embalming of dead people. I am updating my Polynesian dictionary with a summary of these findings and as an illustrative example choose ákuáku.

We should distinguish between 'spirit' as 'soul' and 'spirit' as 'ghost':

Ákuáku Spirit of the otherworld (good or evil). Ki a au te ákuáku oga apó. I have a dream of bad omen last night. Vanaga. - 1. Ambition. 2. Soul, shade, ghost, specter, immaterial, spiritual. Churchill. - The spiritual component of a person after he or she has died, i.e. his or her 'ghost'. Bierbach.
Kuhane Soul, spirit, ghost; person or object seen in a dream and taken as an omen. Vanaga. - The spiritual component, i.e. the 'soul' of a person while he or she is alive. Bierbach.