TRANSLATIONS

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The preliminary discussion has shown that there is no immediately evident direct numerical relationship between the bird and the fish manu kake. There is an indirect such, though. The bird manu kake is placed at the beginning of a 300 glyph long sequence ending with Gb5-6:

296
Ga3-1 (61) Gb5-4 Gb5-5 Gb5-6 (360)
300

If we search for a similar structure for the fish manu kake we do not have to search for long:

258
Ga4-21 (105) Gb5-10 (364) Gb5-11 Gb5-12
260

104 glyphs before the fish manu kake should probably be thought of as 4 * 26 days. 260 is then equal to 10 * 26 days, together 14 * 26 days. The 364-day long year is not defined by the sun, but by the moonlit nights, because 364 = 13 * 28.

The 60 days arriving before Ga3-1, are probably to be regarded as a 'square' too (like 4 * 26), and 4 * 15 = 60. The 'coinage' being 15 days, we conclude that 360 = 24 * 15. With 24 * 15 corresponding to 14 * 26 it is probable that 20 * 18 corresponds to 13 * 28:

364 4 * 26 = 104 10 * 26 = 260 14 * 26 13 * 28
360 4 * 15 = 60 20 * 15 = 300 24 * 15 18 * 20

A confirmation that we have got the message right is the fact that there are 24 kiore - henua periods in Keiti. Also:

"... the first month of the Moriori year, was named Rongo (Lono). On the first of the new year the Moriori launched a small canoe to Rongo, although they built and used only rude craft for their fishing excursions. The canoe was manned by twelve figures symbolizing the personifications of the twelve months. Sometimes twenty-four figures were placed in the canoe, and Skinner interprets the additional twelve as representing the female counterparts of the months. As an old Maori once remarked. 'Everything has its female counterpart.'

... A curious diversion appears in the month list of the people of Porapora and Moorea in the Society Islands, which sheds light on the custom of the Moriori who sometimes placed 24 figures in the canoe which they dispatched seaward to the god Rongo on new years day. The names of the wives of the months are included, indicating that other Polynesians besides the Chatham Islanders personified the months ..." (Makemson)

Possibly we may have some future use for these 24 half-month names from the Society Islands, and I have listed them here.

 

1 Paroro-mua Mara-amu, Trade Wind April - May
2 Paroro-muri To'erau, North wind May - June
3 Muri-aha Te-ura, Gorgeousness June - July
4 Hiaia Turai-rea, Battering-down-of-Rea July - August
5 Taa-oa Te-rere-oaoa, Flight-of-joy August - September
6 Huri-ama Te-mata-tau-roroa, Face-long-standing September - October
7 Te-eri Te-haa-moe-apaapa, Persistance October - November
8 Te-tai Te-hei-faa-taha, Wreaths-worn-jauntily November - December
9 Varehu Oteatea, In-florescence-of-banana December - January
10 Faa-ahu Pahu-nui-atoi-tere-i-te-tamoe, Great-drum-extending-ripeness-with-sound-sleep January - February
11 Pipiri Pipirimaa-i-fenua, Stinginess-throughout-the-land February - March
12 A-unuunu Ua-unuunu-ma-te-tai, Withdrawal-from-the-sea March - April

The names of the half-months are not of much use, I guess. Furthermore, Oteatea can hardly be literally translated as In-florescence-of-banana, and I don't believe in the other translations either. We must retranslate the women's names.

December-January is summer solstice time. The geography of Easter Island points to Poike and to the pair Pua Katiki and Maunga Teatea, i.e. to the 18th and 19th kuhane stations. It is a time to rest, and to 'spit':

Vare

Spittle, drivel, any viscous liquid; viscous; vare mâmari, egg white; pipi-vare, slug. Vanaga.

Varevare, steep, rugged. Tu.: vare, to lose consciousness. Barthel 2.

1. Hakavare, to crisp, to plaster; hakavarevare, to level. 2. Driveler. P Mgv.: vare, clumsy, inept. Turivare, abscess at the knee. Varegao, to speak indistinctly, to offend, to pretend. Varevare: 1. Steep, rugged. 2. Smooth, plain, without rocks; horo varevare, without branches; tino varevare, slender; kona varevare, open place, court, market place. PS Sa.: valevale, fat. To.: valevale, young, tender, applied to babies. In Nuclear Polynesia it is difficult to dissociate this vale from the vale conveying the sense of ignorance. In Samoa this varevare appears only as applied, lē valevale, to a hog that is not fat. It is probable that varevare 2 preserves the Proto-Samoan primitive and that the sense-invert, in the preceding item, is directed away from the germ-sense. Churchill.

Hu

1. Breaking of wind. T Mgv., uu, to break wind. Mq., Ta.: hu, id. 2. Whistling of the wind, to blow, tempest, high wind. P Pau.: huga, a hurricane. Churchill.

Mgv.: hu, to burst, to crackle, to snap. Ha.: hu, a noise. Churchill.

Va

1. Hakava, judge, judgement. T Mgv.: akava, to judge, to pass sentence. Pau.: haava, to judge, to conjecture. Ma.: whakawa, to charge with crime, to condemn. Ta.: haava, to judge. 2. Hakava, to speak. P Mgv.: va, to speak. Mq.: vaa, to chatter like a magpie. The Marquesan retains more of the primal sense although the simile is an alien importation. In Samoa va means a noise, in Tonga va is a laughing noise, in Futuna va is the disorderly cry of tumult, and probably it is the initial element of Viti wa-borabora to speak quickly and confusedly as when scolding. Its only identification in Tongafiti territory is Hawaii wawa the confused noise of a tumult ... Churchill.

Ta.: va, space between the leaves in a roof. Sa.: va, space between. Ma.: wa, interval. Churchill.

Rehu

1. Dust. P Mgv.: rehu, a cinder, coal, ashes. Mq.: éhuahi, ashes. Ta.: rehu, ashes, soot, any powder. 2. To omit, to forget, to faint. Rehurehu, to omit, omission, lost to sight. Hakarehu, to surprise. Rehua, unintelligible. Churchill.

Mgv.: rehurehu, from early dawn to mid morning. Ta.: rehurehu, twilight. Mq.: ehuehu, id. Churchill.

Mq.: ehu, to fall in bits. Ma.: rehu, to split off in chips. Ehua, Ehuo, a large constellation. Ma.: rehua, a star or planet, probably Jupiter. Churchill.