SWING TO MAORI

Auckland Star, Volume LXXII, Issue 107, 8 May 1941, Page 6

SWING TO MAORI

NAMES IN DOMINION

NATIVE SENSE OF BEAUTY

" Throughout New Zealand -continued requests' are being made b\' groups of people to have European place names changed back to Maori/' said Mr. Johannes Andersen, noted authority on Maori culture and lore, in an address to the Anthropology and Maori Race Section of the Auckland Institute last evening. He declared that there was a strong swing back to Maori names, even among people who regarded some Maori 'words as difficult to pronounce. " There would be no difficulty about the pronunciation if only people would take the trouble to give the vowels their correct sound," said Mr. Andersen, "but many names are greatly mutilated in their pronunciation. The vowels in Maori never vary, and if they are spoken correctly, many of our well-known names have a beautiful sound. Some of them are a little poem in themselves. Their beauty is that they contain so much in poetical meaning." In Wairoa—long water—the charm of the word was in the music of the vowels, he continued. Other names suggested rustling leaves, rippling tides, glorious sunsets, clouds resting on mountain tops, winding rivers and other scenes, but the Maoris Declared that their names were not descriptive. They said they were given because of associations, often with places "back home," in Tahiti. Rangitoto—red sky—a true description of the mountain when in eruption—was named not because of its fiery appearance, but because it reminded the early Maoris of a place in their ancient homeland. Aorangi—Mount Cook—was the name of the chief mountain in Tahiti. It was also the name # of a chief's grandson on one of the" canoes of discovery. Rivers and lakes 'were named in the same way, because of associations: yet the New Zealander could not help feeling that the Maori's sense of the picturesque continually influenced him in the choice of names whose aptness was not just occasional or accidental, but was borne out by countless illustrations. Names Without a bistory "In many parts of New Zealand we come across old names of which there is no history recorded," said Mr. Anderson, "and there is no Maori who can tell us their origin. Some of the oldest names date back to a thousand years ago, and have survived through several migrations. Others have been changed by later arrivals. Some Maori words have several different meanings, although the spelling is the same, and we cannot arrive at their real meaning unless we know the story. The meaning of Maori names is not

arrived at by translating them. "We must trace their origin. A great many names have been corrupted Some are merely European names spelt to give them a Maori appearance. In the South Island, for example, Tio Gully received its name because the call 'tea-oh' was once commonly heard there. There has been much more corruption of names in the South Island than in the North."

Mr. Anderson gave a warning against asking Maoris the meaning of names, in the hope of clearing up obscure questions. The answers could not be relied upon. Maoris hf d become so infected by pakeha ideas that they would not probe into the past. The safest course was to ask them to tell the story of the name, and in that way arrive at its meaning indirectly. With thousands of names it was impossible to-dav to give the history. Even the oritjin of some European names in New Zealand had now been forgotten f rt *K au U and » h \ S fishing was referred to b> Mr. Andersen, who said Maui fished up." discovered islands all over the Pacific. When he reached New Zealand he landed in the south and worked up the coast. At Marlborough he caught sight of the North Island: that was when he discovered it, or fished it up out of the sea "