AO-TEA-ROA

Hawera Star, Volume XLVI, 9 March 1927, Page 8

AO-TEA-ROA

Smith, he says the word Kau in this; ease means, Company. Kau nunuL would mean the great ones of old, and Kau roroa the mighty ones of old. Ka uru o te rang! note the difference l in the spacing, it is Ka not Kau. Uru is an old word for head, and meaning' of the term is: The head of heaven.? The owner of this high sounding name was one of the chiefs on the Takitimu.' Kauwae runga and Kauwae raro, were the names applied to the knowledge learned in the old Whare kura. Kauwae runga was the name applied to the teaching relating to the gods .and Kauwae raro to history and traditions and other tribal lore. One word means the upper jaw, and the other the lower" jaw. Please note carefully, there is no pun in this, the Maori word for jaw: does not lend itself to the vagaries of the English word. Kauwae is a vari-' ant spelling pf Kauae. The word Kawa introduces us to a ,fresh set of words, in which it is sometimes difficult to .extinguish between, those beginning" with Kawa and -those; beginning with Ka. There are two main meanings to the word, and yet; far back perhaps one was derived from, the other. Kawa is the name of a. shrub known to Botanists as -Piper exeelsum,. it is also spelt as Kawakawa, the New Zealand species is almost identical with the famous Kava of the south seas. Kawa is also a priestly ceremony or class of ceremonies used for the removal of Tapu from newly built houses, canoes, the birth of a child gnd other things. When .performing this eeremony a. twig of some shrub -or tree was used , to dip into some water and the drops of water were sprinkled over the subject of the ceremony. A twig of the -Kawa was used when obtainable. It will need a considerable amount of research -in the .Islands to determine if the name of the ceremony was derived from the shrub or the name of the shrub from.the ceremony or both from something further back.' In any case both were in use prior to the last migration. In view of the above it is impossible to .give .the origin of any name compounded from Kawa unless the same has been recorded by tradition. Kawakawa nui and Kawakawa mai are both place names in Tahiti. Te Kawa o Tainui was the name of the special Kawa used originally over the Tainui, or repeated from some earlier version. A translation ..-pf this Kawa is given in Polynesian Journal, Volume 8, page 154. Kawau can 'hardly be traceable to anything else but the name of the shag. The best known example being. Kawau Island, in the Hauraki G-ulfJ There is. Kawau a Maui, a village in Tuhoe,,and Kawau a Toru, the nanm of the strong current in Erench Pass. Kawau ruku roa, the loug diving Ka,wau, is the name of a tribal god. We pass on over a large number of .names of no particular moment to the well known name Kawhia, and in the first place we caution pur readers to ..remember that the pronunciation is as /'written, not Kafia. The name has been translated in -various ways, but the best on record is that given by two old tohungas of the Taranaki coast to Mr. S. P- Smith. In their story of the Aotea they say that when the crew landed near the * harbour the priests “proeeded to Whaka awhiawhi -the crew and the canoe, and hence is the •name Ka whia.” This was a highly tapu ceremony used to destroy any evil influence arising from their travels in a new country. : Kekerengu was the name of a chief of high rank in the South Island and there is a place in Marlborough named after him. It is an example of a cus;tom that Europeans would scarcely like vto follow, for the chief was named lifter that evil smelling wood bug, usually called the Maori bug. Kevcru, one of the names for the .large wood pigeon is the source of a -number of place names as well as for personal names in both Islands. Kewa was the name of one of the minor, gods in the Maori pantheon. This is the oldest reference to the name.. Next in Maori story, it was the kind of whale treated as a pet by Tutunui. The next reference in point of time is that of a brother of Turi, who bore the name.

Kihikihi, an old pa in the Waikato, is named from the tree locust. Kiore has been a chief’s name in many parts of New Zealand, and it is one of the puzzles of Maori names that it should be so. The Maori rat was a delicacy much beloved by the Maori and in olden (times fairly common. But, it was a most deadly insult to call a man by the same name as an article of food. In places wheye it happened the usual thing was to dropi the name of rat and use another. I shall never forget the fury of an old Maori woman when she heard that a school teacher had called her little girl a pig. If it had been a horse it would not have mattered.

MAORI NAMES.

(By the Eev. H. J. Fletcher.) No. 11.

There are a few prominent names beginning with Kauae, and one of the, most curious is the name of a Mere,; named Kauae hurihia, the jaw twister.! This was a mere obtained by Tuhoe ;and others in a raid on the Ngati Kahungunu of the East Coast. Kauae nui, big jaw, was the name of a Tuhoe tribesman. Kauae o Poua is the name o:f a large isolated rock near Te Bimurapa, Wellington. It is the subject of a well-known proverb, “When the jawbone of Poua .becomes loose, then the land will be lost.” Kauae o Waifcaha arike kore is the name of a place .at Burima, (some rocks in the Bay of Plenty), named after the captain of Te Paepae :ki Earotonga canoe, Waitahi a.riki lcore. Kauae ranga is the name of a stream and a pa at the 'Thames. The only meaning on record, vis, .jaws placed in line. Kauae roa, Jong jaw, was the name of a Tuhoi man at the famous fight at Orakau. There are several words beginning ■,with Kan which -are clearly traceable to Kau, to swim or wade. Kauanga ,o te Eangi monoa is ;the name given to .a ford on the Whakatane river. The ford is not a safe one. Some time ago ,a_ man named Eangi monoa lost his life in attempting to cross there, when the river was in flood, hence the name. Kauanga roa is the name of a pa on the Whangaehu river. It means the dong ford, or crossing.

Another loss pf life Is the reason .given for the name Kau ara pawa or ■paoa, a tributary of the Wanganui -river. A servanf of Kupe’s, named Ara pawa, attempted to swim the river there when in flood and was drowned.

Kauika is an ancient name among .the tribes of this coast. It was the .name of a priest on the Aotea, and -from him the Ngati Kauika take their .name. It- is a sacerdotal term for the whale, and when applied to a chief it seems to be an honorific term. Just as the word Taniwha is sometimes used when speaking of chiefs. The name was in use long prior to the coming of Te Aotea, for in one of the imost ancient temples of learning in the father land, four teachers are given with the names Kauika nui, Kauika papa, Kanaka roa and Kauika whaltaroa Kuika X waho was. the name of one of Maui’s foster parents. It means the Kauika outside.

Kaukau matua is the name of a small piece of greenstone with a most interesting history. When Ngahue, a, contempory of Kupe, came to New Zealand he found and took back with him a block of greenstone. The block was broken up and fashioned into axes, tools and ornaments. One small fragment was made into an ear pendant and years afterwards, when the fleet was leaving Tahiti for New Zealand, jt was given to Tama te kapua, the cap--tuin of Te Arawa, ivho brought it back \yith him. It passed through many adventures until it came into the care -of Te Heuheu, of Lake Taupo. Somewhere about 1880 one of Te Heuheu ’s daughters was bathing in the .lake with some of her friends and she had the pendant fastened Tound her neck with a piece of black, ribbon. When she finished her, swim she found that the precious greenstone was gone, it had slipped unnoticed to the bottom of the lake.

Kau ni-ho haha was a name applied to Kae, who stole and killed the pet whale of Tinirau. The word splits up as follows: Kau, without; Niho, tooth, Haha, search for. The name embodies the whole story. After Kae’s treacherous act, a band, of girls went to Kae ’3 home in order to entrap him, and as they were not sure of his identity they were told to try- and make him laugh. They would then see that he had a tooth missing from the front. Kae .laughed heartily at part of the performance and showed clearly to the watching eyes that he had lost a tooth. The party then used their powers to send Kae* into a deep sleep, and, while in that state he was taken to his doom.

Ka upoko nui, a stream in Taranaki, is sometimes written Kau poko 'nui. A simlar name in the Waikato is commonly spoken as Kau pok. The proper meaning of the Taranaki name is, a big head, for it was named after the head of Turi. Kauri has been a favourite name for chiefs, especially in the north, where the tree grows. At the mouth of the Mokau there was a pa named Kauri, named after a huge log in the river there. The log was supposed to have uncanny powers. In the famous canoe chant of Te Aotea, frequently chanted during the .voyage, there arc two names beginning with Kau, Kau nunui and Kau roroa. In the translation by the late S. P.