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TRANSLATIONS
If tuo by way of allusion over
Tagaroa suggests one half of the
revolving sky dome, than maybe tao
was the other half? The possible
wordplays should not be overlooked. While
tuo is a word mentioned only once by
Metoro, tao is a more frequent
word. As an example (the only one in E) we
have the sitting figure holding (mau)
a tao:
 |
 |
|
Eb3-15 |
Ea2-23 |
|
kua tuo
te tino |
ka mau koe i te
tao |
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Tao 1.
To cook in an oven, to sacrifice. P
Mgv., Mq., Ta.: tao, to cook
in an oven. 2. To carry away. 3.
Abscess, bubo, scrofula, boil,
gangrene, ulcer, inflammation, sore.
Mgv.: taotaovere, small red
spots showing the approach of death.
Mq.: toopuku, toopuu,
boil, wart, tumor. Ta.: taapu,
taapuu, scrofula on neck and
chin. 4. Mgv.: a lance, spear. Ta.:
tao, id. Sa.: tao, id.
Ma.: tao, id. 5. Mgv.:
taotaoama, a fish. Sa.:
taotaoama, id. 6. Ta.: taoa,
property, possessions. Ma.:
taonga, property, treasure.
Churchill.
Sa.: tao,
to bake; taofono, taona'i,
to bake food the day before it is
used; tau, the leaves used to
cover an oven. To.: tao, to
cook food in a oven, to bake. Fu.:
taò, to put in an oven, to
cook. Niuē:
tao,
to bake. Uvea: tao,
to cook, to bake. Ma., Rapanui:
tao,
to bake or cook in a native oven,
properly to steam, to boil with
steam. Ta.: tao,
the rocks and leaves with which a
pig is covered when cooking; baked,
boiled, cooked. Mq., Mgv., Mg.,
Tongareva: tao,
to bake in an oven ... The word
refers to the specific manner of
cookery which involves the pit oven.
The suggestion in the Maori,
therefore, does not mean a different
method; it is but an attempt more
precisely to describe the kitchen
method, a very tasty cookery, be it
said. The suggestion of boiling is
found only in Tahiti, yet in his
dictionary Bishop Jaussen does not
record it under the word
bouillir;
boiling was little known to the
Polynesians before the European
introduction of pottery and other
fire-resisting utensils ...
Churchill 2. |
I imagine the cooking in an earth oven (tao)
could be used in a similar way as the
guessed at tuo (alluding to the body
of Tagaroa in the sky above), because
the opposite half must be the earth and what
is below its surface.
Speculating further: The month Tagaroa
uri (October) stands at the beginning of
summer half of the year:
|
1st quarter |
2nd quarter |
3rd quarter |
4th quarter |
|
He Anakena
(July) |
Tagaroa uri
(October) |
Tua haro (January) |
Vaitu nui
(April) |
|
Same as the previous month. |
Cleaning up of the fields.
Fishing is
no longer taboo. Festival
of thanksgiving (hakakio) and
presents of fowl. |
Fishing. Because of the strong sun
very little planting is done. |
Planting of sweet potatoes. |
|
Hora iti
(August) |
Ko Ruti (November) |
Tehetu'upú (February) |
Vaitu poru
(May) |
|
Planting of plants growing above
the ground (i.e., bananas,
sugarcane, and all types of trees).
Good
time to fish for eel along the
shore. |
Cleaning of the banana plantations,
but only in the morning since the
sun becomes too hot later in the
day. Problems with drought. Good
month for fishing and the
construction of houses (because of
the long days). |
Like the previous month. Some sweet
potatoes are planted where there are
a lot of stones (pu). |
Beginning of the cold season. No
more planting.
Fishing is taboo,
except for some fishing along the
beach.
Harvesting of paper mulberry
trees (mahute). Making of
tapa capes (nua). |
|
Hora nui
(September) |
Ko Koró (December) |
Tarahao (March) |
He Maro
(June) |
|
Planting of plants growing below
the ground (i.e., sweet potatoes,
yams, and taro).
A
fine spring month. |
Because of the increasing heat, work
ceases in the fields. Time for
fishing, recreation, and
festivities. The new houses are
occupied (reason for the
festivities). Like the previous
month, a good time for surfing (ngaru)
on the beach of Hangaroa O Tai. |
Sweet potatoes are planted in the
morning; fishing is done in the
afternoon. |
Because of the cold weather, nothing
grows (tupu meme), and there
is hardly any work done in the
fields. Hens grow an abundance of
feathers, which are used for the
festivities. The time of the great
festivities begins, also for the
father-in-law (te ngongoro mo te
hungavai).
There
is much singing (riu). |
Fishing is no longer taboo, a fact which may
explain the fishes on strings noticed in
connection with bent henua. My guess
is that it is the month Tagaroa uri
which is referred to in the texts.
At ragi in the glyph dictionary I
have written - due to other factors - that
summer is beginning after the 42nd glyph
from the beginning of the calendar:
In the 5th period of the E calendar
spring equinox is described.
Then follows (in period 6) an overview:
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5 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
Eb3-1 |
Eb3-2 |
Eb3-3 |
Eb3-4 |
Eb3-5 |
Eb3-6 |
|
34 |
35 |
36 |
37 |
38 |
39 |
|
6 |
 |
 |
 |
34 etc are ordinal
numbers counted from the
beginning of the
calendar (Eb1-37). |
|
Eb3-7 |
Eb3-8 |
Eb3-9 |
|
40 |
41 |
42 |
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
Eb3-10 |
Eb3-11 |
Eb3-12 |
Eb3-13 |
Eb3-14 |
Eb3-15 |
|
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
6 |
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
Eb3-11 is located at
the beginning of summer. |
|
Eb3-16 |
Eb3-17 |
Eb3-18 |
Eb3-19 |
|
7 |
8 |
9 |
10 |
|
It seems as if Metoro may have been correct. Summer
begins with Tagaroa uri and Metoro
appears to have read the 6th period with the
beginning of summer in mind:
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1 |
 |
 |
|
Eb3-10 |
Eb3-11 |
|
tarai hia te vae o te vaka |
te ragi |
|
2 |
 |
 |
|
Eb3-12 |
Eb3-13 |
|
rima hakarava hia |
kua tua te vaivai |
|
3 |
 |
|
|
Eb3-14 |
Eb3-15 |
|
rima |
kua tuo
te tino |
|
4 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
Eb3-16 |
Eb3-17 |
Eb3-18 |
Eb3-19 |
|
te rima - te kihikihi |
kua moe - kua reva te ika |
tama - reva ika |
kiore - henua |
Fishing was taboo during 5 months,
beginning with Vaitu poru (May)
and ending with Tagaroa uri
(October). If - as I have suggested
earlier (based on other ideas) - the
glyphs above refer to quarters, then the
fishes at the end may illustrate the
fishing taboo season. The two last
months of the year (Vaitu poru
and He Maro) could coincide with
Eb3-17--18.
Possibly we should reorganize the table,
though, because it feels wrong. Eb3-16 would rather be the last of a
pair (viz. Eb3-15--16) - even numbers
ought to close the seasons. The
upstretched arms would rather be
'suffixes' than 'primary' glyphs:
Now Eb3-16 appears to be properly
located. Maro with 5 'feathers'
may tell that the time of sun is past, and 5
is (presumably) the number of
double-months in the sequence of glyphs.
As to glyph number 42 (counted from the
beginning of the major calendar, in
which the 6th period is located a
quarter from the beginning), viz. Eb3-9,
number 42 can be explained as not only
the end but also as the beginning.
Eb3-11 (ragi) probably
announces the arrival of light, and then
- we conclude - Eb3-9--10 lie in the
dark season of the year. Light (fire,
fingers, 5, rima) in Eb3-12 may
function as a suffix determining that
indeed the ragi glyph brings the
daylight back. The base of Eb3-11 is
henua (probably season in the
light), quite in agreement with Eb3-13
and Eb3-15.
Eb3-17 and Eb3-9, on the other (left)
hand, are not henua glyphs. The
season of light 'owns' the central field in
period 6, containing 3 double-months,
and the winter season has the peripheral
location at the beginning and at the end
(at the birth and death of the year).
From these considerations we now can
guess that Metoro saw an allusion
to Tagaroa in the dark (Tagaroa
uri) at Eb3-15.
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Uri
1. Dark;
black-and-blue. 2. Green;
ki oti te toga, he-uri te
maúku o te kaiga, te kumara,
te taro, te tahi hoki me'e,
once winter is over, the
grasses grow green, and the
sweet potatoes, and the
taro, and the other plants.
Uriuri, black; very
dark. Vanaga.
Uriuri,
black, brown, gray, dark,
green, blue, violet (hurihuri).
Hakahurihuri, dark,
obscurity, to darken. P
Pau.: uriuri, black.
Mgv.: uriuri, black,
very dark, color of the deep
sea, any vivid color. Mq.:
uiui, black, brown.
Ta.: uri, black.
Churchill. |
The back side (tu'a) arrives
first and then comes the total darkness
alluded to in tuo. In the total
darkness was the shell = body of
Tagaroa.
It was his body who was crying out
loudly, kua tuo te tino.
Tuo, I have
suggested, is the opposite of tao;
sky contra earth. Here tua (the
Tahitian word), means to cut (down) -
presumably the tree of light - and that
is of course resulting in total
darkness.
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Tu'a
1. Back,
shoulder, tu'a ivi,
shoulder blade; tu'a ivi
more, lumbago; moa
tu'a ivi raá, 'sun-back
chicken': chicken with a
yellow back which shines in
the sun. 2. Behind (a
locative adverb, used with
i, ki, a, o, etc).
Tu'a-papa, pelvis, hips.
Vanaga.
1. Behind,
back, rear; ki tua,
after; o tua,
younger; taki tua,
perineum. 2. Sea urchin,
echinus. The word must have
a germ sense indicating
something spinous which will
be satisfactorily
descriptive of the sea
urchin all spines, the prawn
with antennae and thin long
legs, and in the Maori the
shell of Mesodesma spissa.
Tuaapapa, haunch,
hip, spine. Tuahaigoigo,
tattooing on the back.
Tuahuri, abortion;
poki tuahuri, abortive
child. Tuaivi, spine,
vertebræ,
back, loins; mate
mai te tuaivi,
ill at ease.
Tuakana,
elder, elder brother;
tuakana tamaahina,
elder sister.
Tuamouga,
mountain summit.
Tuatua,
to glean. Mgv. tua:
To
fell, to cut down.
Ta.: tua,
to
cut. Mq.: tua,
to
fell, to cut down.
Ma.: tua, id.
Tuaki, to disembowel.
Ma.: tuaki, to clean
fish. Tuavera, the
last breadfruit spoiled by
the wind. Ta.: tuavera,
burnt by the sun. Churchill. |
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Tino
1. Belly (as
reported by a Spaniard in
1770). 2. Genitalia (modern
usage). 3.
Trunk (of a
tree), keel (of a boat);
tino maîka, banana
trunk; tino vaka,
keel. Vanaga.
Body,
matter; mea tino,
material; tino kore,
incorporeal. P Pau.: tino,
a matter, a subject. Mgv.:
tino,
the body,
trunk. Mq.: tino,
nino,
the body. Ta.:
tino, id. Churchill. |
Notice how the arms in
Eb3-14 and Eb3-16 have their elbows at
left. The 'snaky elbows' of the bent henua, 'on the other hand', are at
right, presumably indicating the dark
season rather than the light one -
symbolized by arms (a symbology probably originating
from the sky-lifting efforts).
In B there is 1 glyph of
6 with henua bent the 'wrong'
way:
The word, of course, must be related to
vai (water):
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Vai
Water,
liquid, juice. 1. Vai
tagata, semen, sperm
(also: takatea). 2.
Vai kava, saltwater,
sea, ocean. Vanaga.
(Sweet)
water.
Vai-kura = blood.
Barthel.
1. Water,
liquid, fluid, sap, juice,
gravy, fresh water as
differing from tai
seawater; hakavai to
dissolve, to liquefy, to
melt. P Pau.:
ana-vai, a
brook. Mgv.:
vai, water.
Mq.:
vai, water,
liquid, juice. Ta.:
vai, sweet
water, sap, juice.
Vaihu (vai-u),
milk. T Mq., Ta.:
vaiu, milk.
Vaipuga (vai-puna),
spring water. P Mgv.:
vaipuna, water
which springs from among
stones. Mq.:
vaipuna,
spring water. Ta.:
vaipuna, a
spring.
Vaitahe (vai-tahe
1), river. 2. Pau.:
Vai, to exist.
Ta.:
vai, to be, to
exist.
Vaiora, to
survive. Sa.:
vaiola, the
spring 'water of life?' Ma.:
waiora, water
of life.
Vaitoa (vai-toa
2), sugar. Mgv.:
vaito, id.
Vaituru (vai-turu
1), water conduit.
Vaivai,
weak. PS Mq.:
vaivai,
soft, pleasant, agreeable.
Sa., To.:
vaivai,
weak. Pau.:
Vaiho, to set
down, to place. Ta.:
vaiiho, to
place. Ma.:
waiho, to set
down. Pau.:
Hakavaivai,
to delay. Ta.:
vaivai,
to rest a bit. Ta.:
Vaianu, a
plant. Mq.:
Vaimata,
tears. Ha.:
waimaka, id.
Vaitahe, a
flood. Sa.:
vaitafe, a
river. Ha.:
waikahe,
running water, flood.
Vaitupu,
spring water. To.:
vaitubu, well
water. Churchill.
Sa.,
Fakaafo, To., Fu., Niuē,
Uvea, Nukuoro, Ta., Rar.,
Tongareva, Mq., Mgv.,
Fotuna, Nuguria, Vaté:
vai, water. Rapanui:
vai, juice, liquid,
water. Aniwa: vai,
tavai, water. Ma., Ha.:
wai, id. Sikayana:
wai, wuai, id.
Vi.: wai, water.
Rotumā: vai, voi,
id. Churchill 2. |
I get the impression that vaivai is
the opposite to standing
straight up, i.e. to lie down like
the water. If there are persons
striving hard in spring to rise the
sky roof, then they in autumn seem
to be exhausted, in need of rest,
weak (vaivai).
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