MAORI WORDS

Evening Post, Volume CVI, Issue 48, 25 August 1923, Page 14

MAORI WORDS

THE MANNER OF DERIVATION.

Writing to the "Sydney Morning Herald" recently, Mr. A. Salmond, of .Cranebrook, .declared that,the spelling of Maori words was arbitrary. The Maori has no written language, and the accepted spelling is the attempt of white men to express phonetically the sound of Maori words. This is'sometimes dif-ficult-with English symbols. Two noted compilers of .the Maori dictionary were the Williams, father and Bon, missionaries, and eminent members of the Anglican Church." As to.the word "Pah." It. is the name for the Maori village, and, of course, in the early days all pahs were fortified with trench and palisade. As to there "being no "h" sound in Maori, it is a common sound as in hine (girl); hinemoa, wahine (wife), tahuna (sand or sandy place), and do on, ad lib. Two "sounds that are missing are "f" and "s." The vowel sounds used in Maori spellingl are "a," broad as in army; "c,"- like a in mate; "i," like "e'6" in eel; "o," short, sound;'."v," like "oo," ooze.

On the Pacific coast of South America the. sound of many of the names resembles Maori, but the spelling, according to Maori phonetic^, would be' entirely different, as for instance, the town of Iquique has a Maori sound, but the Maori spelling' would be Aikiki. As to the use of Atua for a god, I always understood it to mean a small lake, as in Pahiatua. Mr. Mestou some time ago referred to "Totara" as a -lizard., Tuatara is the lizard. "Totara." is a timber tree. Similarities of language may be caused by contamination from a common source. •■ India may have influenced- the Egyptian, and, through Malay peninsula, the ■■ Polyensian, but the Maori claims to have migrated from Hawaiki, not much different that from Hawaii, and their carving arid colouring resembled American Indian remains of Azi.ec art." Not much difference between a Magri carved ggd uud au Indiau totem polo.