THE MAORI WORD PO.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXVIII, Issue 8472, 24 January 1891, Page 1 (Supplement)

THE MAORI WORD PO.

Mb. Chakles E. Maori interpreter, writes : —

lii yours of last Saturday I perused an explication of the Maori word Po, and as it seems that various opinions exist on the subject, probably an exposition of my ideas thereof, if of no further value, may induce some of the curious in these matters to venture beyond the well-trodden track of our predecessors. The meanings given to the word Po — "darkness/' "night," "Hades" —are undoubtedly correct. They are, however, secondary and abstract—the primary meaning was bole, pit, cave. The word Po itself, I have reason to believe, is an abbreviation of some older .Semitic form.

Like the Egyptians, Phoenicians, Hebrew?, Greeks, Romans, and others, the Maori associated the idea of sexuality with that of creation. They invoked l'o as the mother of the pods, the source of light and life. She was to their mind, probably, what Nyaahtoreth or Astarte was to the early Israelites and Phoenicians; what Nox was to the ancient, and the *' Dei Genitrix" tofome of the modern, Romans. Representations of Po are very rare nowadays, and I have seen but two, —one carved on the lid of a Maori coffin, in a cave at Kaipara ; the other an idol (tiki) in the possession of M. Remenyi, the violinist, who told me that it was given to him, by a European, at Gisborne. However, as there are many who have had frequent opportunities of inspecting Maori carvings, and who must have noticed the unmistakable symbols of a preexisting Phallic etUtu-i, it is needless to refer to it further, especially as Po, llangi, Papa, and Tatio Mahuta have already been mentioned by your correspondent. In Sir George Grey's " Polynesian Mythology," p. 2, it is stated that the -'divisions of times were considered as beings, and were each termed a Po."

Dr. Shortland in his -Maori Religion," p. 8, says : —" Po, Rangi, Papa, Tiki, &c., were invoked alike by the whole Maori race ;" " they were the Maori national yods, for they were their common ancestors." In the "Ancient History of the Maori," vol. I. p. 11, Mr. J. White refers to "ceremonies and incantations of Po." With reference to the " chaos and darkness" of Po, 1 can only say that I have never met with a .Maori tohunga, or priest literol), who did not consider Po, when used in ike sense of (he wither world, as anything but an actual existence, another world (Uo tera ao) in which their ancestors live ; Po, in fact, is the very antithesis of the Nirvana of the Buddhists.

Of Atua, Atua Maori, and tupua, I shall say nothing, as it would occupy too much space. The word aliui, however, .-should not have been chosen to represent the Surpreme Being of a monotheistic creed. With reference to the etymology of the word Po. I think it springs from the same radical as the Hebrew word bor, hole, pit, grave, the final r of bor being ejected by the .Maori ; similarly, the Hebrew word aor, daylight, is in Maori ao, daylight. The Hebrew word maor, light, is in Maori mao, be light, clear up after rain. The Maori have a peculiar aversion to the leter r, and eject it from a number of words—as we should most likely do, were we to have to repeat the Arabic re, or the French rgranseyd —th us in Maori, = mariao = maiao, karearea=kaeaea. Sometimes in words containing an ?• the Maori seems to get so exasperated that he flings the whole lot of consonants out without in any way changing the meaning of the word—thus ngaro becomes ao, be out of sight, not manifest; e ngaro ia becomes eaoia, i* it not evident, or, I declare it is ; marino becomes aio, calm, etc. In conclusion, sir, 1 would say that the foregoing is in no way written as a critique upon the opinions of your former correspondents, but rather to call the attention of better linguists than myself to the existence of a hitherto bub little explored held of Maoridom.

While showing that the Maori word Po can—like a great number of other words— be, philologically, referred to a Semitic root, I do not thereby intend to convey the idea that most Maori words are similarly derived. What I have good grounds for believing is, that physically, linguistically, mythologically, and otherwise, the Maori ■proven himself to be the offspring of a Semi-tico-Hamitic union. .