Te Wiki o Te Reo: Maori Language Week.

Tokaroa
Maori Language week is a real incentive for those of us who are not Maori, or Maori speakers, to become a little familiar with the language. Everywhere we go there are Maori place names that we are gradually learning to pronounce. Understanding what they might mean is another step forward in knowing our local environment and it's history. There is a Maori online dictionary and also a 2001 publication by A.W.Reed, called Illustrated Maori Place Names, I.S.B.N. 0 7900 0794 0. I have dipped into both to find out translations of Maori terms, with which I am not too familiar. Coromandel connections are the most fascinating. A very much abridged alphabetic list here follows.

Ahuahu is the process of mounding stuff up. It is also the name of Gt. Mercury Is. Kumera is grown in mounds or ahuahu and there were many gardens on Gt. Mercury. Alternatively the term is connected with the legendary whale rider Paikea. On arriving he was very cold and mounded himself in warm beach sand. Paikea has descendants in Kennedy Bay to this day.

Aotea is the name of one of the great canoes captained by Turi and gave it's name to Gt. Barrier

No Maori words begin with B,C or D and not many with E.

Hauturu is a two part word for Little Barrier. Hau for wind and turu for post. A resting place for the wind. Many words seem to be made of more than one part and it is useful in understanding their meaning.

Our sea cliffs that form Kahutara are an example. Not only is it the name of one of the great canoes (The Ngai Tahu sailed south to Kaikoura in a canoe of this name) but its two parts mean , a womens cloak and sea bird, which is quite descriptive. Then another "k"we have katipo, a venomous spider that can be found under logs on local beaches. Kuaotuna, across the water interprets as "young eels". There are still wetlands there. Many years ago I met an older maori lady who suggested that the "young" were in fact mutton birds. These were taken from their burrows on the Mercury Islands and processed on Kuaotuna beach. "Killing of the young" was her interpretation.

Coming up the coast we pass through Manaia, also the name for a carved maori figure with a large beaked head. We cross manga "streams" as we skirt the maunga "mountains" whilst passing motu "islands" of the coast, and perhaps isolated clumps of trees that are also called motu. Perhaps we stop so that a child can have a mimi! Closer to home we have our own Maungatapu or sacred mountain. Moehau translates literally as moe "to sleep" and hau as "wind". Tama, who figures large in Coromandel history is buried at Colville or maybe the mountain itself. Certainly his son Kahu named the mountain after him. A more sensitive translation being that this is "the resting place of Tama's life force".

Nga is a very common prefix as it means "the". Ngahere "the forest". It may be a better term to use than bush which seems to have a Dutch, South African origin!

O is another very common prefix meaning "the place of". We see it in Otara, Onehunga etc.

Papa in place names seems to mean flat, but, in the case of Papa Aroha, which is not particularly flat it could refer to a particular meeting place for many subtribes to meet. Aroha seems to have a number of interpretations. Mutual respect if not love would seem to be a minimum requirement for such a meeting.

Roto "lake" and rua "two". When we come to Tairua the interpretation is "two tides", one from the south and the other from the north, a description of a local phenomena. Tapu is a word that needs no explanation. The place itself was the site of a great battle and many are buried there. Te means "the" as in Te Ika A Maui "the North Island" or Maui's fish. Locally we have the Te Hope stream which was waist(hope) deep to ford. Much closer to home we have Tokaroa, our big offshore rock, often surrounded by titi "mutton bird". Tuateawa "beyond the stream" and you could drive along Waiherere drive. It could have been formerly called Te Waiherere "the place of rushing waters". These days the streams are culverted. However the history still remains in the names!

HEI KONA MAI.