next page previous page table of contents home
ki motu o oro.i ka mana atu ena.ko te At the moment when (Rovi?) reached Motu O Roro (an islet off the northern shore, east of Anakena), there were six children lying with their faces down (i.e., on their stomachs) [ko te nga poki.eono.e momoe ro ana.a raro.te aro]; six youths were warming themselves in the sun [e hakamahana ana.ki te raā] after a lot of diving [te rukurukuhanga].

a ōno.ngaio = ao ono nga io - has not been translated by Barthel

Rovi asked [he ui a Rovi], 'Will you get up, fellows?' [ka ea korua ko nga kope ki runga]

nga poki.eono.e momoe ro ana.a ra(-)
ro.te aro.e hakamahana ana.ki te raā.
mai te rukurukuhanga.a ōno.ngaio.
he ui a Rovi.ka ea korua ko nga kope ki runga.
Oro. 1. To flit in the air (of a bird), turning and flying up and down. 2. To file, to scratch, to scrub, to grind, to sharpen; ka-oro te kumara, grind the sweet potatoes; ka-oro te hoe, sharpen the knife. Orooro, to rub, to polish, to shine. Vanaga. Oroina, to choke on a fish bone. Orooro, to whet, to sharpen (horo). Churchill.

Mahana. 1. Tepid, lukewarm, warm; vai mahana, warm water. 2. To stop raining; he-mahana te ûa, the rain has stopped. Vanaga. 1. Heat, hot (maana, hana, pumahana); mahana ke, suffocating; mahana nui, stifling; mahana no iti, lukewarm; vera mahana, hot; hakamahana, to heat, to scald, to warm over. 2. Finery. Churchill.

Ruku. (Also rukuruku): To dive; to fish underwater; diving; i-turu-era au ki tai, he-ûi koai te tagata era, e-ruku-mai-era i te îka, i te ura, as I went down to the sea, I saw who those people were, who were fishing underwater for fish and lobsters. Vanaga. To bathe, to immerse, to swim face down, to dive, to leap into the water from a height. Hakaruku, to cover with water, to immerse, to submerge, to moisten, to wash, to drink. P Mgv.: ruku, to dive, to plunge. Mq.: úku, to dive, to immerse. Churchill.

Ao. Large dance paddle. 1. Command, power, mandate, reign: tagata ao, person in power, in command, ruler. 2. Dusk, nightfall. 3. Ao nui, midnight. 4. Ao popohaga, the hours between midnight and dawn. , to serve (food); ku-âo-á te kai i ruga i te kokohu, the food is served on a platter. Vanaga. 1. Authority, kingdom, dignity, government, reign (aho); topa kia ia te ao, reign; hakatopa ki te ao, to confer rank; ao ariki, royalty; ka tu tokoe aho, thy kingdom come. PS Mgv.: ao, government, reign. Mq.: ao, government, reign, command. Sa.: ao, a title of chiefly dignity; aoao, excellent, surpassing, supreme. 2. Spoon; ao oone, shovel. 3. Dancing club T. 3. Aonui (ao-nui 2), midnight. 4. Pau.: ao, the world. Mgv.: ao, id. Ta.: ao, id. Mq.: aomaama, id. Ma.: ao, id. 5. Pau.: ao, happy, prosperity. Mgv.: ao, tranquil conscience. Ta.: ao, happiness. 6. Mgv.: ao, cloud, mist. Ta.: ao, id. Mq.: ao, id. Sa.: ao, cloud. Ma.: ao, id. 7. Mgv.: ao, hibiscus. 8. Ta.: ao, day. Mq.: ao, day from dawn to dark. Sa.: ao, id. Ma.: ao, id. 9. Ta.: ao, a bird. Ha.: ao, id. 10. Mq.: ao, respiration, breath. Ha.: aho, breath. 11. Mq.: ao, to collect with hand or net. Sa.: ao, to gather. Ma.: ao, to collect. Ta.: aoaia, to collect food and other things with care. Churchill.

Io. Mgv.: At the house of. Ta.: io, id. Mq.: io, id. Aka-ioio, feeble, lean and thin. Mq.: hakaioio, to be wrinkled, flabby flesh of the aged. Churchill.

... Io dwelt within the breathing-space of immensity. // The universe was in darkness, with water everywhere. // There was no glimmer of dawn, no clearness, no light. And he began by saying these words,

That he might cease remaining inactive:

'Darkness, become a light-possessing darkness.' And at once a light appeared. He then repeated these self-same words in this manner,

That he might cease remaining inactive:

'Light, become a darkness-possessing light.' And again an intense darkness supervened. Then a third time He spake, saying:

'Let there be one darkness above. Let there be one darkness below. Let there be a darkness unto Tupua. Let there be a darkness unto Tawhito. A dominion of light. A bright light.' And now a great light prevailed.

Io then looked to the waters which compassed him about, and spake a fourth time, saying:

'Ye waters of Tai kama, be ye separate. Heaven be formed.' Then the sky became suspended.

'Bring forth thou Te Tupua horo nuku.' And at once the moving earth lay stretched abroad.

(Tiwai Paraone, New Zealand, c. 1880, and translated by Hare Hongi.)

More than fifty years after Christianity reached New Zealand it was suddenly disclosed by certain Maori elders that the pantheistic mythology hitherto revealed was not in fact the full story, and that according to an esoteric or 'higher' learning - withheld till then because of its sanctity - the Maori did have a single, Supreme Creator, whose name was Io. The first reference in print to Io seems to have been made in 1876, by C. O. Davis, who said a member of the Ngapuhi tribe had told him 'that the Maoris in olden times had worshipped a Supreme Being whose name was so sacred that none but a priest might utter it at certain times and places ... The only complete account was given much later, in a manuscript dictated by the Maori elder Te Matorohanga and published  in 1913 ... But both this elder and his scribe Te Whatahoro were converted to Christianity long before the manuscript was composed. The little word 'io' or 'kio', as Buck points out in an amused survey of the principal evidence and claims ... can sometimes mean the squeak of a rat or bird, at other times muscular twitches of the body that were regarded as omens by the Maori. Even so, Io-Jehovah caused some excitement in an age which wished to persuade itself that primitive peoples had really been Believers all along, and His revelation soon led to further discoveries elsewhere in Polynesia - notably in the Tuamotu, where Stimson believed as late as 1933 that he had unearthed a cult of 'Kiho'. (Antony Alpers, Legends of the South Seas.)

E:99

ko te tae ea.ki runga.ko te tae ea ki runga.he oho. But no one arose [ko te tae ea.ki runga], not one got up [ko te tae ea ki runga]. He went [he oho] and (wanted to) wake them up [he hakaara], when he suddenly saw [i ka ui atu ena] that the six children had been killed [ko te nga poki ku mamate ana a oono]. Rovi looked closely (to see) [e āta.ūi a Rovi] how they had died [i te aha.i mate ai].
he hakaara.i ka ui atu ena.ko te nga poki ku
mamate ana a oono.he āta.ūi a Rovi.i te aha.
i mate ai. i ka ui atu ena.ko te potu o te koko(-)
Ara. 1. Road, path; ladder. 2. To wake up, to concentrate on something; he-ara te mata, to inspect attentively; hé-ara, he-ûi a raro o te vai kava, concentrating, he looked at the sea-bottom. Ará-ará, to signal, to send signals with the hand (to another person in the distance): he-haaki-atu hai rima ará-ará. Vanaga. 1. Path, trail, road, way. 2. a. To awake, to arouse; veve ara, to awaken; hakaara, to arouse, to excite. b. To be awake; hakaara, to be awake; ara no, insomnia, sleeplessness. c. To watch, to guard; tagata ara, sentinel. Churchill.

Mate. 1. To die; he-mamate te gagata, many people die. 2. To faint, to lose consciousness; he-tutu ka mate ró to beat someone senseless (often used hyperbole). 3. To feel an overwhelming desire, to be dying for; he mate ki te vai, to be dying for a drink of water. 4. Manava mate, infatuated, in love (with something). 5. To be overwhelmed with pain: mate-á i te mamae. Matega, death. Vanaga. Death, to die, to be ill, to be unfortunate. Hakamate, to kill. P Pau.: mate, to die. Mgv.: mate, to be sick, dead, love, ardent desire. Mq.: mate, illness, death, grief. Ta.: mate, death, illness. Matea, lifeless, passionate. Matega, death. Mgv.: matega, illness, death. Matekeo (mate - keo) pulmonary disease. Matemanava (mate - manava) to marvel at. Matemate, to have a slight illness, to suffer pain. Materaa (mate - raa) sunstroke. Matevai (mate - vai) thirst. Churchill.

I think we should read he āta.ūi as hea-a-tau-ui: Hahe. Hahehahe. To congregate, to gather (of people, animals, things). Hahei, to encircle, to surround. Ku hahei á te tagata i ruga i te umu, he vari, the people have placed themselves around the oven, forming a circle. Ana ká i te umu, he hahei hai rito i raro, when you cook food (lit.: light the oven) you cover it all around with banana leaves at the bottom. Vanaga. M. Whawhe, to come or go round. Cf. hawhe, to go or come round; awhe, to pass round or behind; takaawhe, circuitous. 2. To put round. 3. To be blown away by the wind. Te aute tè whawhea - Prov. 4. To grasp, to seize. Cf. wha, to lay hold of; to handle. 5. To save, as a defeated person on a battle-field. Text Centre. Mq.: hahea, grand, important. Ha.: haheo, proud, haughty, to put on airs. Churchill.

ma.e onga.no ana i te kaūha.ai ka revareva Suddenly he saw [i ka ui atu ena] that the end of the intestine [ko te potu o te kokoma] was protruding from the rectum and was actually hanging out [ka revareva no].
no.he ohu.mai a uta.penei ē.
Potu. Small stick (toothpick?); extremity or remainder of something. Vanaga. End, tip. Potupotu, cockroach. Churchill.

Kokoma. Intestines, guts. Vanaga. Bowels, entrails, intestines, rectum, garbage, rage, angry; kokoma hanohano, spite, to despise, to hate, to storm, to bear a grudge, vexation; kokoma hanohano ke, to be in a rage; kokoma hakahanohano, to excite anger; kokoma hanohano manava pohi, to abhor; kokoma ritarita, to abhor; kokoma eete, to abhor, to detest, to be in a rage, angry, ungovernable; tagata kokoma eete, adversary; kokoma hurihuri, animosity, spite, wrath, fury, hate, enmity, to pester, to resent, irritable, offended, hot tempered; kokoma hurihuri ke, to be in a rage. Churchill.

Possibly kaūha should be read as kau-uha: Kau. 1. To move one's feet (walking or swimming); ana oho koe, ana kau i te va'e, ka rava a me'e mo kai, if you go and move your feet, you'll get something to eat; kakau (or also kaukau), move yourself swimming. 2. To spread (of plants): ku-kau-áte kumara, the sweet potatoes have spread, have grown a lot. 3. To swarm, to mill around (of people): ku-kau-á te gagata i mu'a i tou hare, there's a crowd of people milling about in front of your house. 4. To flood (of water after the rain): ku-kau-á te vai haho, the water has flooded out (of a container such as a taheta). 5. To increase, to multiply: ku-kau-á te moa, the chickens have multiplied. 6. Wide, large: Rano Kau, 'Wide Crater' (name of the volcano in the southwest corner of the island). 7. Expression of admiration: kau-ké-ké! how big! hare kau-kéké! what a big house! tagata hakari kau-kéké! what a stout man! Vanaga. To bathe, to swim; hakakau, to make to swim. P Pau., Mgv., Mq.: kau, to swim. Ta.: áu, id. Kauhaga, swimming. Churchill. The stem kau does not appear independently in any language of Polynesian proper. For tree and for timber we have the composite lakau in various stages of transformation. But kau will also be found as an initial component of various tree names. It is in Viti that we first find it in free existence. In Melanesia this form is rare. It occurs as kau in Efaté, Sesake, Epi, Nguna, and perhaps may be preserved in Aneityum; as gau in Marina; as au in Motu and somewhere in the Solomon islands. The triplicity of the Efaté forms [kasu, kas, kau] suggests a possible transition. Kasu and kas are easy to be correlated, kasu and kau less easy. They might be linked by the assumption of a parent form kahu, from which each might derive. This would appear in modern Samoan as kau; but I have found it the rule that even the mildest aspirate in Proto-Samoan becoming extinct in modern Samoan is yet retained as aspiration in Nuclear Polynesia and as th in Viti, none of which mutations is found on this record. Churchill 2. Uha. Hen; female (familiar): taaku uha = taaku vî'e, my wife, or my daughter (i.e. taaku poki). Vanaga. Female. T Pau.: koufa, female of animals. Mq.: uha. id. Ta.: ufa, uha, id. Ma.: uwha, uha, id. Uhamau (uha - mau 7), to brood, to hatch. Churchill. Tonga, Niuē: uha, rain. Viti: utha, rain. Churchill 2.

Reva. To hang down; flag, banner. Revareva, 1. To be hanging vertically; to detach oneself from the background of the landscape, such a person standing on top of a hill: ku-revareva-á te tagata i ruga i te maúga. 2. To cast itself, to project itself (of shadows); revareva-á te kohu o te miro i te maeha o te mahina, the shadow of the tree casts itself in the light of the moon. 3. Uvula. Vanaga. To hang, to suspend, flag, banner; hakareva, to hang up; hakarereva, to hang up, to balance; hakarevareva, to wave. T Pau.: reva, a flag; fakarevareva, to hang up, to suspend. Mgv.: reva, a flag, a signal. Mq.: éva, to hang up, to be suspended, to wave a signal. Ta.: reva, a flag, banner; revareva, to wave. The germ sense is that of being suspended ... any light object hung up in the island air under the steady tradewind will flutter; therefore the specification involved in the wave sense is no more than normal observation. Churchill. Mgv.: 1. A plant. Ta.: reva, id. Mq.: eva, id. Sa.: leva, id. Ma.: rewa-rewa, id. 2. To cross, to pass across quickly; revaga, departure. Ta.: reva, to go away, to depart. Ma.: reva, to get under way. Churchill. Ta.: The firmanent, atmosphere. Ha.: lewa, the upper regions of the air, atmosphere, the visible heavens. Churchill. LEWA, s. Haw., the upper air, region of clouds; v. to swing, float in the air, move back and forth; hoo-lewa, to vibrate, float in the air, carry between two persons, as a corpse, a funeral. Tah., rewa, the firmanent, an abyss; rewa-rewa, to fly about, as a flag. Mangr., rewa, the overhanging firmanent, a tent, a flag. N. Zeal., rewa, the eyelid. Marqu., ewa, to suspend; s. the middle. Sam., leva (of time), long since; v. be protracted. Fiji., rewa, high, height; vaka-rewa, to lift up, to hoist, as a sail. Malg., lifa, v. to fan oneself, s. flight; rafraf, a fan. Goth., luftus, the air. Sax., lyfti, air, arch, vault. O. Engl., lift, air. Lat., limbus (?), fringe, flounce.Sanskr., dev, div, primarily 'jacere, jaculare', according to A. Pictet (Orig. Ind.-Eur., ii. 466), subsequently 'to play at dice', play generally. The permutation of d and l may be observed in the Latin levir, brother-in-law (the husband's younger brother) = Sanskr. devŗi, devara, id. If dev or div has derived the sense of 'throwing dice' from an older sense 'jacere, jaculare', to throw, to hurl, that sense may be a derivative from a still older one, 'to lift up, swing about, be suspended' = the Polynesian lewa, rewa, 'to be suspended, to vibrate'. And thus we can also understand the origin of the Goth. luftus, the Sax. lyfte, the O. Norse loft, Swed. lowera, lofwa, Engl. luff. (Fornander)

Kokohu. 1. Container, vessel. 2. To put one's hands together, forming a scoop to hold something: ka-kokohu hai rima mo avai-atu te kai, put your hands like this, so I can give you some food; ka-kokohu rivariva o marere, hold your hands together well, so that (the food) does not spill. 3. Figuratively: mother (matu'a poreko) because she is the vessel in which the baby's body is formed. Vanaga.

ko nga Hahaki.a Roro.ko Manu kena.a Roro. He loudly screamed the following toward the land [he ohu.mai a uta.penei ē]: 'Hahaki A Roro and his (brothers) Manu Kena A Roro, Te Paripari A Roro, Kai Tanoa A Roro, Eve Pipiro I Te Hiku Koe A Roro, and Aro Nehenehe O Roro, are corpses [te papaku]

  

They have been killed [ku mamate ana] by having their intestines torn out, you (people) on land!'
ko te Paripari.a Roro.ko kai tanoa.a Roro.
ko Eve pipiro i te hiku kioe.a Roro.ko Aro ne(-)
henehe. (crossed out: atua ivi rou e te roe) .a Roro
te papaku.ku mamate ana.i kumekume no
te kokoma.e uta ē.he rere hokoou.mai te tu(-)
... a similar story from the Hervey group, where the Little Eyes are Matariki, and at one time but a single star, so bright that their god Tane in envy got hold of Aumea, our Aldebaran, and, accompanied by Mere, our Sirius, chased the offender, who took refuge in a stream. Mere, however, drained off the water, and Tane hurled Aumea at the fugitive, breaking him into the six pieces that we now see, whence the native name for the fragments, Tauono, the Six, quoted by Flammarion as Tau, both titles singularly like the Latin Taurus. They were the favorite one of the various avelas, or guides at sea in night voyages from one island to another; and, as opening the year, objects of worship down to 1857, when Christianity prevailed throughout these islands ...

... At Opoa, at one of the last great gatherings of the Hau-pahu-nui, for idolatrous worship, before the arrival of European ships, a strange thing happened during our [the two priests of Porapora, Auna-iti and Vai-au] solemn festivity. Just at the close of the pa'i-atua ceremony, there came a whirlwind which plucked off the head of a tall spreading tamanu tree, named Paruru-mata'i-i-'a'ana (Screen-from-wind-of-aggravating-crime), leaving the bare trunk standing. This was very remarkable, as tamanu wood is very hard and close-grained. Awe struck the hearts of all present. The representatives of each people looked at those of the other in silence for some time, until at last a priest of Opoa named Vaità (Smitten-water) exclaimed, - E homa, eaha ta 'outou e feruri nei? (Friends, upon what are you meditating?) - Te feruri nei i te tapa'o o teie ra'au i motu nei; a'ita te ra'au nei i motu mai te po au'iu'i mai. (We are wondering what the breaking of this tree may be ominous of; such a thing has not happened to our trees from the remotest age), the people replied. Then Vaità feeling inspired proceeded to tell the meaning of this strange event… I see before me the meaning of this strange event! There are coming the glorious children of the Trunk (God), who will see these trees here, in Taputapuatea. In person, they differ from us, yet they are the same as we, from the Trunk, and they will possess this land. There will be an end to our present customs, and the sacred birds of sea and land will come to mourn over what this tree that is severed teaches. This unexpected speech amazed the people and sages, and we enquired where such people were to be found. Te haere mai nei na ni'a i te ho'e pahi ama 'ore. (They are coming on a ship without an outrigger), was Vaitàs reply. Then in order to illustrate the subject, Vaità, seeing a large umete (wooden trough) at hand, asked the king to send some men with it and place it balanced with stones in the sea, which was quickly done, and there the umete sat upon the waves with no signs of upsetting amid the applauding shouts of the people ...

Tumu. 1. Tree trunk. 2. Ancestors: tumu matu'á, parents; tumu tupuna, grandparents. By extension: tumu taína, members of friendly families. 3. Como término muy especial se usa tumu para se¤alar a familias o personas que no son parientes, de modo que sus hijos podían, según antigua usanza, casarse entre ellos y formar un nuevo tronco. 4. Origin of something; initiator of an idea; person who is the cause of a fight: tumu taûa. 5. He-kore te tumu, to be so weakened that you cannot stand (lit.: the trunk is lacking). Vanaga. Base, cause, element, origin, principle, source, spring, trunk, occasion, author, subject, motive; ina e tumu, accidental, fortuitous; tumu kore, causeless, baseless, weak in the legs, to waver; tumu o te hakareka, toy; tumu hatihati, weak in the legs; tumu o te hiriga, purpose of the voyage. T Pau.: fakatumu, to lay a foundation. Mgv., Mq., Ta.: tumu, cause, base, origin, principle, trunk. Tumumeika (tumu - meika), banana plant. Mgv., Mq.: tumumeika, id. Churchill.

ura.o te ariki.ki uta.he tomo ki uta.he rongo Then the servant (tuura) of the king (i.e. Rovi) quickly ran toward the land, came ashore [he tomo ki uta], and brought the news [he rongo he oho.mai] to King Matua [rather: Hotu].
he oho.mai ki te ariki.kia Hotu.he tuu he ha(-)
kamaa.i te papaku.ki te ariki.kia Hotu. He arrived [he tuu] and told King Hotu about the dead. He came and reported [he tuu.he hakamaa] the following [penei e]: 'Hahaki A Roro and his brothers are corpses - all six have been killed [ku mamate.tahi ana.a oōno]'.
he tuu.he hakamaa.penei e.ko nga hahaki.a Ro(-)
ro.te papaku.ku mamate.tahi ana.a oōno.
Tupa. Ancient buildings found scattered along the coast; made of stone, and almost all of them round, they served as shelters for fishermen. Tupatupa, to carry (someone) on a stretcher; to carry (a load) with the help of several people. Vanaga. 1. Land crab. PS Mgv.: tutupa, a large crayfish. Mq., Ta.: tupa, land crab. Sa., To., Fu.: tupa, a land crab with large claws. 2. Mixture, to carry, tupatupa, to bring in one dead or wounded. Tupapaku, corpse. T Pau.: tupapaku, corpse, ghost. Mgv.: tupapaku, corpse, sick person. Mq.: tupapaku, tupapaú, id. Ta.: tupapau, corpse, ghost, specter. Churchill.

Palolo. ... The lolo reappears in such parts of Nuclear Polynesia as have the animal as a component of Samoa palolo, Tonga balolo, Viti mbalolo. I cite a note on this subject which I wrote out for Dr. William McMichael Woodworth, who identified the palolo as the posterior epitokal part of Eunice viridis (Gray): Stair's derivation from pa'a-lolo, luscious crab, is out of all consideration; it is on all fours with the classic definition of a crab as a small red fish that walks backward, for pa'a (paka) could not in the Samoan system of word structure undergo such a syncopation as to cut itself in two. As the bit beastie is in no sense a crab, and I must claim for my islanders that their intelligence is sufficiently high to prevent them from putting two such dissimilar animals together, so in turn is lolo not luscious. The organs of sense perception by which the Samoans apperceives lolo lie, not in the peripheral nerve endings of the tongue, but of the fingers; it is a matter of touch and not of taste such as luscious principally connotes. I got a very instructive glimpse at this word from my cook boy and a dish of vermicelli soup. After it had served my uses the tureen went back to the kitchen. I found the servitor dabbling his fingers in the dish, which he pronounced to be fa'alolo. I regard the primal significance as one of consistency, somewhat custardy, a substance partially solid that may to a certain extent be grasped in the fingers yet which seems to slip out and elude the grasp. That, it will be noticed, is a thread that can be run through all the significations. It applies equally well to the palolo as you feel it in the water on the great day of its appearance. In the slightly specialized sense of slippery it applies similarly to its other two compounds in the Samoan, ngalolo and umelolo, both being fishes and the latter a variety of Naseus lituratus or unicornis. Churchill 2.