Vanaga: Tapa = "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."

Mahute = "a tree (Boussonetia papyrifera) formerly more abundant on the island, the fibres of which were used for clothing (see nua and hami)."