THE MAORI NAME "AOTEAROA.

Evening Post, Volume LXXIV, Issue 108, 2 November 1907, Page 13

THE MAORI NAME "AOTEAROA.

By J. Cowan. .Your book-reviewer's criticism in Saturday's issue of my translation of the Maori place-name ''Aotearoa'' — New Zealand — as the "Long Bright World" is a good illustration of the saying that n little knowledge is a dangerous thing. It was nerhaps miner imprudent for your contributor to commit himself to a. cocksuro dictum on matters on which even New Zealanders well-acquainted with the Maori and his language are often chary of ofte-ring opinions. Your reviewer considers ''The Long Bright World" a mistranslation "of the name ".Aotearoa" ; is of the , opinion that it .was never the Maori name for New Zealand, and- says it "has no English equivalent." For his information, as he is evidently a stranger to tho Maori and his tongue and traditions, I should like to submit a little evidence in support of "The Long Bright World," premising that during a period extending over many years and covering an acquaintance with practically every Maori tribe irom tho North Cape to Stewart Island. I have occupied myself in getting at first-hand the traditions, history, karakias and waiatas of the race, and have also some acquaintance with tho Polynesian Island peoples. Aotearoa is well-known by the Maori as tho ancient name tor New Zealand. It is known also in Tahiti and Rarotonga, in the South Sea Islands, as the traditional name for these islands. Mr. S. Percy Smith, the present editor of tho Polynesian Society's Journal, and author of numerous expert works on Maori and Polynesian history, can be citpd as an authority on this subject, and I don't think even ycjur venturesome critic can successfully ''butt up" against Percy Smith. Aotea-roa, it is evident, was applied generally to these islands by tho Polynesian immigrants of the Takitumu migration, from the Society and Cook Islands, about six centuries ago; it waa considerably- later, when the Maori mado expeditions for greenstone to the- South Island, that that island obtained its distinctive name, Te Waipounamu. To-day Aoteaioa is ehiofly usod, within Now Zealand, to signify the North Island; but a Maori abroad would use Aotearoa in general reference to his homeland, unless ho used tho pidgin-Maori "Niu Tireno." Only the other clay I noticed the occurrence of tho name "Aotearoa," in reference to New Zealand, in a letter written in 1569, by tho chici Tauuhana tc Rauparaha. It is absurd to say that "Aotea" has no English equivalent. Thcro are various equivalents, well-known to any Maori-speaking pakeha. Tho aether (ao) ; tho bright light of morning; the brilliantly clrar light of full u,iy, are. some interpretations, but the true'meaning can only be judged by tho reaving of the context. In this particular instance hovever, "Aotea" carries a different signification, as I shall show. The Maoris who b?stowed~ the name "Aotearoa" upon New Zealand weie according to East Coast tradition, tho navigators I'aikeaand TamaUw. Paike.-.. says an old Maori friend of mine, an East Coast chief particularly well acqnainted with his tribal history, first made the land at the Great Barrier Island, at th:> entrance to the Hauraki Gulf. He named the island Aotea, after a place in llawaiiki. Then 'sailing on, he discovered the "Luawhenua" or mainland, which he named "Aotearoa," or "Long Aotea." It w.'is not long afterwards, according to tho same Maori historian, that Tamalea, sailing in towards tlu> land at Whangaparaoa (near Capo Runaway) also bestowed t he name "'Aotca-roa" upon the new country, as his pepeha or terse descriptive phrase for the unknown land that lay stretched out before him. He called it Aotearoa because of the Jong white cliffs, (pari tea. pari kanapa), that belted the land (ao) as far as tho eye could sec. Tamatea's name (also sometimes "Nukuroa") was adopted as a unhcisal one for the new country, at any rate by the people of the historic migration, although tho aborigines whom they found , already lning in the country, the- Iwi-a- ; Mani and others, had their own ancient name for the North Island — "To Ika-a-Maui."' just as the South Island was called "To Woka-a-Maui" Maui's Canoe) and Maahupni ; and Stewart Island "Te { Pimga-o-To Waka-a-Maui" (the- Anchor i of Maui's Canoe) — in later days R.ikiura. "Tea" in "Aotcaroi" connotes ihe idea of brightness and light, jnbt as it does m "Titi-tea," tho Maori name for Mount Aspiring, in the South island— the sharp peak of glistening white. I find tlr.it 1 am' foi lifted in my interpretation of Aotoaroa as "Lmi'/ Bright World" by Mr. J A. Wilson, for many ye.irs .1 judge of the Xalho L-md Court, ono of the most reliable of Maori hissj torians. Mr. Wilson was thu iiist to definitely place on recoid tlir> triha! hishny of tho people who dwelt Ik-vc before the Maoris of the "historic licet" arrived. In ( his "akotchr-s oi' Ancient •Maoii Life and History, " he gives "L<in~ White World"' as his inleipretalion of the place-name Aotcaro.i. The Maoris bestowed this name upon the new country, he writes, because when they aimed off the coast about 1290 A.fj! and sailed along a for hundreds of miles .they "were- impressed with its extent and its white anpoaranco. i<'rom tht> eastern precipices 'of the Ore it IJjrrier and Mercury Islands, to ihe beaches and hoadlands of the Bay of Plenty, and from Te Mahia to past ihe E.ist Cqic, all tho coast line w.is moie or less white in colour as tlio Ivtslnn summer sun sliom- upon it. Thu few dark rocks brought the while into relief, and incieased the-- impression, and they were partially hidden too, l.y the fclhu'C- of tho pohuli'kiiwa trees. Unit was. not to know the white man's axe for se\eral hur.dierl yr.irs to come." One. has, indeed, only to uuise ,i!on<4 the Jv'sl Cii-t&i .iriywltfio nsn tlnv.uds of Hawki'.s I. <y. v) u-aliso Lit i* aptn»ss ami ctc-sniptiviMH'ns of t lio Muciii name, liic ti]> by tho monnnj; sun some of those great clilta glitter like chalk or pumice, I landmarks a long distanie- away at fi-i. A typical prtc.ipiioti>> piew of co.isi lil'iff, such ,is one urn well imagine wonl'l I h..\e justifn-d fie Mauiis in naming tin. 'count iv 'Hi" Long Blight World." is the singular "tattooed clifl" at Kaokaor<.;i. in- 11 \lotila. in the Bay of IMi'!i!\ : | a Il.isiI 1 . i si -n,' v.iiue v .ill of uck. its br'iKht- ! nca 1 ; nt""ii:ied by the lumulilul jz.»\-s !of iiDMsiliik.-.v.,! in- it rliDup (heir jjiimi b'jil^h- nu, Jiie etl-c <n" the bluff ' \ni'ilvi gnod M.Wi authority "W. 15." (Mr. Bui'ke), of Te Knit i. whuso ,nticlei undiu- the heading of 'WUcie the

White' man Tieuds" are probably the most accurate expositions of- the inner native life that have ever been written, considers that thu general idea meant to be convoyed in naming New Zetland Aotearoii was "'The Land Made Bright by the Rising Sun." ' I havo further Maoii evidence explanatory of the name-giving, but what i havo cited should be sufficient. There is no need to dive into Polynesian racemythology for the origin of the name. "Aotea,'' is as well-known to Maoris, was a Society Islands place-name; it was given to one of the pioneer canoes (Aotea-nui-no-Toto), and was transplanted to various localities in New Zealand, but the story of Tifmatea's j "pepelui" seems to me the most trustworthy account of the bestowal of that j name wilh adjectival affix upon this land. Mr. \V. P. Reoves's translation of tho name as ''Tho Long White. Cloud" is ! poetically fanciful, 'but need hardly be taken into account; Mr. Reeves was not, I believe, conversant with <he Maori tongue. It is rather annoying to see so many New Zealand names mistranslated by newspaper writers and. book -authors ; the idiotic interpretation of Aorangi as "Cloud-piercer" is one that always raises a Maori-lover's ire. And for a writer palpably unacquainted with the native race to venture bald assertions and denials on subjects on which old Maori students would not presume to arrive at conclusions wiihout long and careful research is rather rash, to say the least of it, and savors of the tyro- in literary criticism. The first qualification of a critic Is that he shall know •whereof he writes.