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TRANSLATIONS
Before we leave vaha kai,
we should notice that the
'undulation sign' does not
appear in any of the mama
glyphs:
The undulation sign is
difficult to understand. I
doubt it depicts the form at
the center of the upper lip
of a mouth.
Possibly we can use pure
as a lever. If pure
depicts an empty sea shell
devoid of life, then we
should expect some other not
so very different glyph type
to depict the opposite - a
shell full with life:
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pure |
vaha kai |
The cowrie shells were
used as coinage, and they
have 'undulations' at their
'lips':
Cypraea
tigris
"The
shell of Cypraea
tigris is
believed to help to
facilitate
childbirth: some
women in Japan hold
a shell of this
species during
childbirth. Large
cowry shells such as
that of this species
were used in Europe
in the recent past
as a frame over
which sock heels
were stretched for
darning, i.e.
instead of using a
darning egg. The
cowry's smooth
surface allows the
darning needle to be
positioned under the
cloth more easily
than when using a
darning mushroom
made of wood."
(Wikipedia)
"darn¹
... mend (clothes)
with yarn or thread
...
†dern
conceal, hide ...
cf. MDu. dernen
stop holes in (a
dike) ...
darn²
... used as an
intensive, which
Noah Webster
identified with DERN
in its later senses
of 'dark. drear,
dim' ... When
darn(ed)
had become a mild
substitute for
damn,
darnation
would readily
follow. Cf. U.S.
tarnation
... which is prob.
to be assoc. with
the similarly used
and somewhat earlier
tarnal,
aphetic form of
etarnal,
eternal."
(English Etymology)
Behind the dark cloth (i.e.,
hidden) the tattered old
year magically becomes
transformed into a fresh new
year, and the process moves
on for eternity. Mother
earth transforms the old
year into a new one.
Although there is an element
of chance (hazard) in
recreating the old one in a
new one it basically is a
process of 'mending' -
recreating the old pattern.
The form of an egg
illustrates what it is all
about. The cloth (veil)
needs repair. At left is one
in the pair and at right is
the other.
The form of vaha kai
envelops a form of puo
('hilled up', hidden down in
the soil):
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vaha kai |
puo |
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Pu'o
(Also
pu'a);
pu'o nua, one
who covers himself
with a nua
(blanket), that is
to say, a human
being. Vanaga.
1.
To dress, to clothe,
to dress the hair;
puoa,
clothed; puoa
tahaga, always
dressed. 2. To daub,
to besmear (cf.
pua 2); puo
ei oone, to daub
with dirt, to smear.
3. Ata puo,
to hill up a plant.
Churchill. |
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Pua, pu'a
Pua.
1. A zingiberacea
(plant of which few
specimens are left
on the island). 2.
Flower: pua ti,
ti flower,
pua taro, taro
flower, pua maúku
pasture flower;
pua nakonako,
a plant which grows
on steep slopes and
produce red, edible
berries. 3. Pua
tariga (or
perhaps pu'a
tariga),
anciently, hoops put
in earlobes. 4. The
nanue fish
when young and
tender. Puapua,
summit, top, upper
part; te puapua o
te maúga, the
top of the mountain;
te puapua kupega,
the upper part
of a fishing net.
Vanaga.
Pu'a.
1. (Modern form of
pu'o), to
cover up something
or oneself, to put
on; ka-pu'a te
ha'u, put on
your hat;
ka-pu'a-mai te nua,
cover me up with
a blanket. 2. To
respond to the song
of the first group
of singers; to sing
the antistrophe;
he-pu'a te tai.
3. To help;
ka-pu'a toou rima ki
a Timo ite aga,
help Timothy with
the work. 4.
Pu'a-hare, to
help a relative in
war or in any need;
ka-oho,
ka-pu'a-hare korua,
ko ga kope, go,
give your relative a
hand, lads. 5. To
speak out in
someone's favour;
e pu'a-mai toou re'o
kia au, speak in
my favour, intercede
for me. Pu'apu'a,
to hit, to beat.
Vanaga.
1.
Flower, ginger,
soap; pua mouku,
grass. 2. To grease,
to coat with tar, to
pitch; pua ei
meamea, to make
yellow. Puapua,
a piece of cloth.
Mgv.: pua, a
flower, turmeric,
starchy matter of
the turmeric and
hence soap. Mq.:
pua, a flower,
soap. Ta.: pua,
id. Ma.: puapua,
cloth wrapped about
the arm. Churchill. |
The cloth is what we can
see, not what it hides. The
cloth presents us with a
visible surface. A mama
is down in the sea
(invisible) and puo
implies invisibility down in
the earth:
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Mama
1. To chew.
2. To
mouth-feed
(arch.)
he-mama i te
vai tôa koia
ko te
tiapito
kiroto ki te
haha o te
poki,
she
mouth-feeds
the child
with
sugarcane
juice
together
with
tiapito
juice. 3. A
sea mollusc
(with an
eight-horned
shell).
Vanaga.
1. To leak,
to ooze, (maamaa).
P Pau.,
Mgv., Ta.:
mama,
id. 2. To
chew. P
Mgv., Mq.,
Ta.: mama,
id. 3. Light
not heavy, (maamaa).
P Mgv., Ta.:
mama,
id. 4. A
limpet (Chiton
magnificus).
Mgv., Mq.,
mama,
a shellfish.
5. To open
the mouth;
hakamama,
to yawn, to
gape, to be
ajar. Pau.:
hamama,
to open.
Mgv.:
akamama,
to burst
open. Ta.:
haamama,
to open.
Mq.:
haámama,
to open the
mouth. 6.
Ta.:
mama-orero,
conclusion
of a
council.
Ha.: mama,
to finish,
to have done
with a
thing.
Churchill. |
When eyes no longer
are of any use, the
ears come in. I
guess it is
significant to find
the ears mentioned
as a kind of limit:
"A
young Egyptian
called Setna
(or Seton
Chamwese) wanted
to steal the magic
book of Thot
from the corpse of
Nefer-ka Ptah,
one of the great
Egyptian gods, who
was often portrayed
as a mummy. Ptah,
however, was awake
and asked him: 'Are
you able to take
this book away with
the help of a
knowing scribe, or
do you want to
overcome me at
checkerboards? Will
you play Fifty-Two?'
Setna agreed,
and the board with
its 'dogs' (pieces)
being brought up,
Nefer-ka Ptah
won a game, spoke a
formula, laid the
checkerboard upon
Setna's head and
made him sink into
the ground up to his
hips. On the third
time, he made him
sink up to his ears;
then Setna
cried aloud for his
brother, who saved
him." (Hamlet's
Mill)
Possibly the
ear-formed variant
of vaha kai
depicts an ear.
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