MAORI NAMES.

Hawera Star, Volume XLVII, 23 May 1928, Page 3

MAORI NAMES.

No. XXXI

(By Rev. H. J. Fletcher.)

Pupu whoirau roads the 113111© ©1 a. pa in the Wairairapa, it is a variant spelling of Pi pi wiharau roa—the s hining eukoo. pura is the first portion of a niuiuibpir of words, but the difference between Pura arid Pu ra needs careful -attention. The groat difficulty of properly noting (divisions adds to the trouble of translating the divisions of the words. Pura lias' tne meaniilir of blind, and ai’so to shine with ait unsteady light. Then there -are words of which Pura is merely the first part. Purahb was the name of the place where the steersman sat at the stern of a canoe. This term has been used a® a. personal name on several lines. Pnraho kura was a chief of Ngatd Tama of Rotorua in the 16th century, who is said to have taken part in the . killing of the monster ibaniwha, Kataore, at Rotorua. The translation of the na.me : is not on record. Pu ratio tau, a place on the Whanganui River, and Purahb tangihia, a- battlefield in Tulhoe land, are two more names of the same kind, but the writers thereof have not supplied the origin of the name. Purakanui, a bay north of Port Chalmers, is very largely quoted in the/ transactions of the New Zealand Institute with the above spelling. Shertlamd spell’s it as Purakau nui. This, properly divided, is Pu rakau nui, and tins is the correct spelling. /Mr H. Beattie bias recorded the story of a fight there, and be says: “Next day the bodies of the slain were piled up like a large heap of wood, and since that day the bay lias been known as Pu rakau muii, the great heap of wood.” In Purakau nrai tewhifi there is quite a. different word. Purakau means ancient legend or myth. The term in full is the name of an incantation. It means ancient legend from afar. Purangi is a place on the Upper "\Vait'ara; a place on the coast near Whiitianga Mercury Bay :and’ a lady on an Arawa genealogy. In each case the name is> not divided. There are five meanings attached to the word in thie dictionary, but there is no,tiling recorded about the origin of any one of the name*?, so we must leave thp gentle reader to make his own choice. Pura o te rangi was one of the messengers of the Sunreme God To. Then? is no meaning of Pura on record to suit this! term.

Pura, roto. the name of some caves above Piniriki, seems to, he a desoriptiv.? name, for it translates as gleam from within. The word Pure, in Maori, has some ( curious affinities with the English word Pure. Pure is l a ceremony used for the t removal of Ta.pu and other purposes, and where the division of a word iis clear then* i« some indication of the , meaning, but Pm-elni may he either a ' -cloud or-a garment, and Purelnia, and ! Pureliurelm are both words for motib. as wed a.s other things. Individuals with these names are on Sword, 'but the exact orioin of the names is not. There we, must leave it. ; p„ T emn.; wa,s one- of the most noted oh,efA o ,f Tohri?, and some of the things related *0 him seem almost incredible. ; On one occasion, meeting some members : of a, ho's+’le tribe in the hush; he put them to flight and ehaisod them to the houndrirv of their own country, killing over fifty of them a« they ran. Purewa was also the name of a lady, the second wife of the famous Te Pehi. The only meaning on record is', to float. Puru is the name of a place on the Waihou River. Hokianga, and another place in the Thames Valley. The name seems to be derived from Puru, a- plug or hung. Puru kunenga was the name of an ancient tribe long extinct. The late Colonel 'Gudgeon explained! the name a,s “Tt’ose who fid the neit>.” Puru unuhia. the phi.g culled out, was the name given to the drowning of n number of people hv Ruaitapu. He, invited a- number of young men to go out with him fishing. He took up the cincr Jo the bilge of the canoe and! kept his heel on the spot until thev were ■some distance frcm, 'land. "When he Wr tiw heel away the water rushed in and swamped the ca.noe, and a- number 1 of vouno- men were drowned'. P-+.n -Is another of the large number of Maori words that cannot be translated without the context. The word' in its sirnrde form Ivs SO' many meanings +',at it is imnossilde without the proper el'-e to render correctly. Pntaewa is written Pu taewa, not Puta ewa,. It is the name of n ihann at Te Whaiti. in Tehee land. Tt has no enrmeetion ’with Puta, we might make a. guess, at the meaning from, the, other words beginning with Pu. hut such guesses are far too common. Pu taihinu is. the name of a range of hills in Tuhoe land, as Taihimx is the name of a shrub, its meaning would follow that of the previous, word. Puta o Pare tauhiuu is the cui ious opening in the cliff at Mercury Bay known as Cook’s Archway. One it caning of Puta is opening. Puta o Far? tauhinu —the opening of Pare tauliinu. Puta rum, the owl’s l hole, or nest, is the name of a ,station on the Alorrins-ville-Rotorua. railway. Putiki, a pa on the Whanganui River, is a shortened form of Putiki whara nui a Tamatea pokai wheiiua. lake many of the long names in Maori, it is much easier to translate than the short tries. There are many versions of the story of ■ how the place gobs its name, hut they all agree in the main. Ono version in Taylor’s Te Rea a Maui reads: “When Tamatea Pokai- whenua reached Whanganui. he sat down to arrange his toilet before he entered the pa, and tied up the locks of his head into a topknot. From this circumstance * lie'pace was called “Putiki AVhara nui o Tamatea.” Putiki iis the name given to the hunch -of hair tied up in a knot 011 the , top of the head. Whara nui is the name of the, flax used on that occasion, and Pokai whenua means one who ex-plcM-esi the land. . Puweru maku is another spelling of Puent maku, the name given to a fight, the details of which were given in a previous caper. Ra has several meanings, hut the two main ones are sun and day, and it is evident that sun would be the nrimary meaning. But before. reaching the word beginning with Ra we nave a few with- Rae. which means fo-relicad or headland. Rae kowba.i. Kow'lrai - hea'clilandi. a pa at Hauraki Rae nioiri is a term called XJnoke iri, which means “th? sus•nended head.” Rae noliatu. rocky headland i = +hc name of a place on the R:>urr-i+ n:Ui River. : Rae tib i. a town shin cii the Ohakuine--1 juiki road takes its name from the * ne „.k of hill near hv. , Rahiri was, the name o e on*_-of th® , renowned 1 ancestors of the Ngripuhii r neon'e. and there are many mimes 011 record having Rahiri as the first cart, hut we are not aware of any cxnlnuaj ion of the origin of the name. r There area fmv words beginning with Rnj that await explanation. Two of

them arc. names connected with -the itangitane people of the Upper Manawatu and A\ airarapa country. One was a pa called Ral kapua, and tlv3 other Rai kau mo ana, a- Ra-ngitane chief wlio lived about 1625. _■■■- Rai lie Poaxa was trie name of a figilio. in tne account «£. the expedition known as luo Anno wlienua. tana, trio taua was teseiged at Pule? Rangiora. by trie Ati Aw a tube, and ssui rounded by a large tore© “asm a p.g-sty,” hence the name of this episode, in Aiaori history, " Raino poaka, wlliclii means a pig-sty. There are. several scores 01 names on bur lists beginning with Rakai. . Rakai bantu was the earliest settler iii the South Island of whom we have any autlienbio knowledge, and names wffji Rakai have been common right- on to the present in the South Island. The 'names tire known all over the north. "Unfortunately we have 'the same old Trouble aboiijt the separation of tlir? syllables; White gives Ra kai mounona, the name of a Aiaori chief, as “day of dating fat things.” 111 legends from the South, collected by Air H. Beattie, of Gore, and checked over by the latte Mr S. P. Smith, the same name is divided, as Rakai niomona. There is 110 meaning of Rakai on record that would suit this later form. Ita. ka,i: nui is given by White as “day of great eating.” The translation is correct if the division is night, but the tmms person is given in a genealogy in Volume XV of the Plvnesian Society a,s Rakai nui. 111 fact every reference 011 record, with the one exception of White, reads- as Rakai nui. Ra kai ora, a chief descended from the famous Toi ka.i .rakn.u, is given in White with the above division. It is Rakai ora in the “Lore of the Wliaire Wananga” and in the Tuhoe lists collecrted. bv Air FI scion Best.

In Ra kai te kura. White is not consistent. In one case lie gives “day of adorning with plumes and feathers,” and in the otlier noted by him it is “day on which the sacred red was used.” Rakai means to adorn. A pemniis’siible rendering of Rakai te kura would be “adorn with the sacred red.” All the otlier reef renoes read ‘ Ttakai te kura. ’ ’ There is another long lisit of words having Rakau as the first portion thereof. Rakau, means wood or tree, or a w-eapon made of wood. Rakau amoamo was the name of a thwart 011 tho Pu whenua canoe. The primary meaning of Amo ins “to carry.” hence tin? naming of a thwart in a, eance. Rakau awhiti was the name of one of Turi’s paddles. Rakau fcaonga. was a, post set up on the Ruahine Alountains by Tamatea when he. first explored that couaubry. Rakau whafawhata was the name of another thwart in the Puwhenua canoe. . Raki is a word in use 111 the SouHi 111 place of Rangi, hut it has an occasional use in other parts as well, and in most cast?® it carries the meaning of Rangi. A Ngai Tabu chief, giving an account of one of Te Rauparaba’s followers killed bv Ngai Tabu near Awatere, Marlborough, writes the name as Raki akaalca; liui. In other dialects it reads as Rangi akaaka nui. Rangi is used for many things, such- as -sky, day, weather, tune, chief, etc., etc. Raki ura is the name for Stewart Island, and' it has frequently been translated as glowing sky. One of the South Island legends, collected by Air Beattie, runs somewhat as follows: A voung chief named Raki t-amau visited Putat-ara.. which at that time was the only permanent settlement on tlie- island. After the usual feasting and speechifying, the visitor asked for the hand of one of the youing girls. An awkward silence followed has request, and) then one of the elders told him he was too late, as the girl had only been away a few days with her husband. The young man blushed furiously at the unpleasant news-; :The is'/and was oftfe-n spoken of afterwards as Te ura o Te Raki tamaiu (the hlus'h of Te Raki taniau). and it was afterwards shortened to Raki ura. Ra, kungia, the : s-uai dlosed \u>, is a name that comes to us over the centuries from far Hawaiki. It is said that in a fight between the parties of Uennku and AVhena, Uenuku caused clouds and darkness to descend and confuse AVhena. so the fight was named Te Ra kungia. (To he continued).