TRANSLATIONS

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To continue with a few more reflections from the story about the great 'crayfish' (ura):

Ahu Vinapu and Ahu Mataitai were to be the two places (!) where the new statue was to be raised. Obviously we are meant to think here.

As to Vinapu, the reference sounds understandable - because of its location at midwinter and because of the solar cult which once probably reigned there:

... The cult place of Vinapu is located between the fifth and sixth segment of the dream voyage of Hau Maka. These segments, named 'Te Kioe Uri' (inland from Vinapu) and 'Te Piringa Aniva' (near Hanga Pau Kura) flank Vinapu from both the west and the east. The decoded meaning of the names 'the dark rat' (i.e., the island king as the recipient of gifts) and 'the gathering place of the island population' (for the purpose of presenting the island king with gifts) links them with the month 'Maro' which is June. Thus, the last month of the Easter Island year is twice mentioned with Vinapu. Also, June is the month of the summer [a misprint for winter] solstice, which again points to the possibility that the Vinapu complex was used for astronomical purposes ...

...  The fact that the year ends at Vinapu and begins anew at Anakena may have meaning beyond the obvious transition of time and may also indicate a historic transition. The carbon-14 dating test assigned a much earlier date to Vinapu (ninth century) than to Anakena. This raises the question of an 'original population', which, according to the traditions, lived along the northern rim of Rano Kau (i.e., inland from Vinapu) and their relationship to the explorers ...

Searching for Vinapu in what is written earlier found this interesting item:

... The stone skull with the peculiar pits on top brought to mind a small and crude stone cranium already found archaeologically behind the Vinapu temple plaza on the south side of the island, and a second examination of this piece showed much to our surprise that here also two deep pits had been carved on the forehead, asymmetrically on each side of the sagittalis ...

The double pit in the stone skull must certainly represent takurua, I think.

Ahu Mataitai is a name which may contain an allusion to the opposite of Vinapu, i.e. the sea (as opposed to the sky where sun lives).

 

Tai

1. Ocean, sea (often used without an article); he-turu au ki tai hopu, I am going down to the sea to bathe. 2. To be calm, good for fishing: he tai. There exists a surprisingly developed terminology for distinguishing the phases of the tides: tai pâpaku, low tide; ku-gúgú-á te tai, tide at his lowest, literally 'the sea has dried up'; he-ranu te tai, when the water starts rising again; this is a strange expression, since ranu means 'amniotic liquid,' the breaking of the waters which precedes birth; in this phase of the tides the fish start coming out of their hiding places and swim to the coast in search of food; tai hahati, rising tide; tai hini hahati, tide as it continues rising; tai u'a, tai u'a parera, when the tide has reached its high; tai hini u'a, tide all throughout its full phase; tai hori, tide as it starts receding; tai ma'u, tide during its decreasing phase, right until it becomes tai pâpaku again; tai raurau a riki. the slight swell, or effervescence of the sea at a change or the moon. 3. Good spot for raising chickens; the stone chicken coops called hare moa, were built in places 'tai moa'. Ahé te tai o taau moa? whereabouts are the raising grounds of your chickens? 4. Song in general; song executed by a group of singers; ku-garo-ana i a au te kupu o te tai, I have forgotten the words of the song. Taitai, tasteless; said especially of sweet potatoes and other produces of the soil which do not taste good for being too watery; kumara taitai, watery, tasteless sweet potato. Vanaga.

1. Salt water; taitai, brackish, salty. 2. Sea, ocean; tai hati, breakers; tai hohonu, depths of the sea; tai kaukau, tide; tai negonego, tide; tai o, ripple; tai parera, tide; tai poko, breakers; tai titi, tide; tai ua, tide, ebb; tai vanaga, ripple. Churchill.

Half the year (or nearly so) sun is absent (out far away in the southern sea). If the year begins at Anakena and ends at Vinapu, then the year referred to maybe is just half a year?

Sun lives 260 days of the total 364 of the year, that is not half the year but 5 / 7 of the year. 2 / 7 perhaps is the 'long tail'.

Tai hohonu means 'depths of the sea':

... Pair 19 [Mahatua] and 20 [Taharoa] has directions contained in its names ('backside' tua and 'flank' taha). Pair 21 [Hanga Hoonu] and 22 [Rangi Meamea] leads one to think of the contrast between 'depth' (wordplay on hohonu) and 'height' ('sky' rangi). Thus, both of the pairs of east-west direction have directional characteristics ...

Hohonu

Deep; tai hohonu, depths of the sea; hakahohonu, to deepen; ata hakahohonu, abyss. Churchill.

We should here reread my earlier thoughts about the stations of the kuhane of Haumaka beyond Poike:

 

18 Maunga Teatea

The male (white) 'noon' (p.m.). The counterpart to the female Pua Katiki, i.e. the 'arm' in puapua (= the female 'cloth' wrapped about the male 'arm').

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19 Mahatua

The Sun now stands at the backside (tua) of noon, the start of the period of descending (p.m.). He is hot (mahana), he has been allured and ensnared (mahaga) by the female (the object of admiration - maharoga).

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20 Taharoa

Sun is moving towards the horizon (tahataha), the great (roa) descending.

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21 Hanga Hoonu

Sun will (soon) bend (haga) down into the depths (hohonu). This station is like Tama - it belongs to the moon (darkness).

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22 Rangi Meamea

The flat rosy (meamea) place where sky (rangi) meets 'land' (sea) and the king 'dies', i.e. will live forever (be immortal).

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23 (Mauga) Peke Tau O Hiti

The 'insect', scorpion, in the west is the dried mummy of the king, securing (tau) that sun will come again (peke), show itself again, reappear (O Hiti) the next 'season', ta'u (day).

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24 Mauga Hau Epa

The 2nd (female - cfr hau) of the two mountains announcing twilight time in the evening. The word epa also associates with female, as it means to extend horizontally (like Papatuanuku). The sun lies down 'horizontally'.

Maybe GD17 (hônu) is a visual cue for tai hohonu:

Hônu

1. Turtle. 2. Spider (the species found in houses). Vanaga.

GD17 may also refer to hônui:

 

Hônui

1. Person worthy of respect, person of authority. 2. Livelihood, heirloom, capital; ka moe koe ki toou hônui, you must marry to ensure your livelihood (said to a little girl); he hônui mo taaku poki, this is the heirloom for my son. Vanaga.

Great (hoonui); honui, chief T.; tagata hoonui, personage; hakahonui, to praise, to commend. Churchill.

The kings on Easter Island were of the Honga lineage:

"The ariki-mau or king of Easter Island was a divine chief who had mana (supernatural power) and was therefore surrounded by tapus; as a member of the Honga lineage of the Miru tribe he was descended from the gods Tangaroa and Rongo." (Métraux)

That may, however, have nothing to do with hônui. We must note, though, that the Tahitian toa may be the word which Metoro used for the periods of the night (equivalent to a watery region), e.g. at Aa1-40:

 

e ia toa tauuru
Toka

1. Any large, smooth rock in the sea not covered by seaweeds (eels are often found between such rocks). 2. To be left (of a small residue of something, of sediments of a liquid, of dregs); to settle (of sediments); ku-toka-ana te vai i raro i te puna, there is little water left at the bottom of the lake; ku-toka-á te oone, the sediments have settled. Tokaga, residue, remainder; firm, stable remainder or part of somthing. Vanaga.

A rock under water. P Mgv.: toka, coral. Mq.: toka, a bank where the fishing is good. Ta.: toa, rock, coral. Tokatagi, sorrow T. Churchill.

Finally, in Te-tu-kote-ura-rarape-nui (the name of the great crayfish) te-tu-kote could be alluding to kotetu (huge) equal to tetunui (cfr tetu, very lage, very wide, huge), but kote is obviously primarily referring to ragi kotekote in Nuahine káumu à ragi kotekote.

 

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.

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. Churchill.

The old year is cut off as a ripe fruit, the navel string of the new year is cut off and tied properly:

"... At the moment of delivery the man who ties the navel cord (tangata hahau pito) is called in. The tying of the navel cord is sacred and must be performed according to ritual ...

The first knot (hahau a te matau, string of the right) is tied after the string has made transverse turns around the navel cord passing from left to right. After three more transverse turns around the navel cord right to left, the second knot (hahau patu maui, string to the left) is tied.

These knots keep the child's strength in his body. The navel cord is cut by a boy or girl (kope or vie nagi pito, young man or woman who bites the navel) ..." (Métraux)

 

Pito

1. Umbilical cord; navel; centre of something: te pito o te henua, centre of the world. Ana poreko te poki, ina ekó rivariva mo uru ki roto ki te hare o here'u i te poki; e-nanagi te pito o te poki, ai ka-rivariva mo uru ki roto ki te hare, when a child is born one must not enter the house immediately, for fear of injuring the child (that is, by breaking the taboo on a house where birth takes place); only after the umbilical cord has been severed can one enter the house. 2. Also something used for doing one's buttons up (buttonhole?). Vanaga.

Navel. Churchill.

H Piko 1. Navel, navel string, umbilical cord. Fig. blood relative, genitals. Cfr piko pau 'iole, wai'olu. Mō ka piko, moku ka piko, wehe i ka piko, the navel cord is cut [friendship between related persons is broken; a relative is cast out of a family]. Pehea kō piko? How is your navel [a facetious greeting avoided by some because of the double meaning]? 2. Summit or top of a hill or mountain; crest; crown of the head; crown of the hat made on a frame (pāpale pahu); tip of the ear; end of a rope; border of a land; center, as of a fishpond wall or kōnane board; place where a stem is attached to the leaf, as of taro. 3. Short for alopiko. I ka piko nō 'oe, lihaliha (song), at the belly portion itself, so very choice and fat. 4. A common taro with many varieties, all with the leaf blade indented at the base up to the piko, junction of blade and stem. 5. Design in plaiting the hat called pāpale 'ie. 6. Bottom round of a carrying net, kōkō. 7. Small wauke rootlets from an old plant. 8. Thatch above a door. 'Oki i ka piko, to cut this thatch; fig. to dedicate a house. Wehewehe.