MAORI NOMENCLATURE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXIX, Issue 8986, 17 September 1892, Page 1 (Supplement)

MAORI NOMENCLATURE.

No. I. The following is the first portion of a paper delivered before the Auckland Institute by Mr. T. H. Smith, late Judge Native Land Court:— I propose, then, to say a few words on Maori names. The subject seems to tall naturally under three heads: names of persons, names of places, and names of things. With regard to names of persons. The first point which appears to me noticeable is that a Maori often bears a great many names in his lifetime. The principal name is, however, given at birth, or rather, in the case of a male, at the ceremony which jflftperfnrmed soon after by the priest or tohunya. In after life the birth-name» is often dropped, anil a fresh one is assumed, often bearing reference to some important contemporaneous event. Sometimes on the decease of a relative the name of the deceased is assumed by the survivor. Often, also, a circumstance or occurrence associated with the sickness or death of a relative furnishes names for those who were about him at the time of his decease. I do not think there is* any strict rule observed with regard to names of chiefs or persons of rank. At the same time there are distinctions in names—there are aristocratic names and plebeian names. The " Rangi's" and the " Til's" generally, when at the beginning of the name, belong to the former, and such names as etymologically suggest .relations to common everyday affairs are generally borne by persons of low degree. This cannot, however, bo laid down as a rule. Some of the highest born and most renowned chiefs have borne names of by no means exalted significance. Ib may be that _ the names of many of the men who gained renown as warriors and otherwise were not their birth names,, but merely the names by which they were known during the time they were winning fame by their exploits, and therefore the names by which they chose to be known and spoken of. The Maoris did not generally distinguish sex by names. With certain exceptions, any name may be borne by either sex. The exceptions are that names beginning with " Hine,"or "Pare," will belong to females, and names compounded with "Tama" or "Tu" would be those of ma es only. The definitive " Te" put before a name adds dignity, and is used as a mark of respect. In metamorphosing pakehas' names into Maori it is usual to put tho "tu" before them, where it is probably equivalent to our "Mr." To omit the "te" in speaking of or addressing a respectable pakeha wouia show lack of respect, though in familiarly addressing him it may be omitted, and the name itself even may be abbreviated without disrespect. In the case of their own names, those which are preceded by the " te " certainly mirk higher rank in the bearer than those not so preceded. I remember a chief of high rank in the Lake district whose name was Te, Kirikau, and in the same place was a little school-girl named Kirikau. The distinction, though seemingly trifling, was net really so, the uatnes having different significations. It was quite sufficient to prevent any mistake or confusion in their use. There is a word sometimes used hi greeting a person held in high estimation for his genial and good qualities—" Tauiva." It expresses at once admiration and respect for the person so accosted, also pleasure at meeting. In addressing any person, by name or otherwise, the vocative E is always used. This has led to many mistakes of pak'.has in using Maori names. Hearing persons addressed, they have taken Hie preceding " E " to ha part of the name. The chief Te runi, of Wellington, was always known by the European settlers as E Puui. A great many similar instances might be given. There are rio family names among the Maoris. Every child has his own name given soon after birth, which is retained through life, though not always used. A person may take many names. The so-called Maori King I'otatau, was known as Te Wherowhero in the early days of the colony. The name of the head of the family, "however, conies into use by his descendants as the name of a hapu or tribe, generally by adding the prefix Ngaati or Ngai— Ngatiwhakaue, at Rotorua, the family or descendants of Whakiiue ; Ngai Te Rangihouhiri, in the Bay of Plenty, the descendants of Te Rangihouhiri, both of these prefixes meaning the same, i.e. progeny. In some cases the singular form is used, as Te Atiawa instead of Ngatiuwa, and other forms also i are used, as Te Whanau o, "The family of" —Te Whanau o Apantii, on the East Coast—or, 'Te Urio, Te Aitanga a, " The offspring of,"Te • Uri o Hun, Kaipara; Te Aitanga a Whare, Poverty Bay, etc. It is not meant to assert that the names of tribes and ha/nn are invariably or even generally those of ancestors, but in many cases it is so, and the use of these prefixes would always bo understood as indicating the family of the name so prefixed. Families of some of the early missionaries, which have multiplied and reached to the third and fourth generations, are often so designated.

In speaking of Maori names, of course the names given in Christian baptism are excluded.

There is a remarkable Maori custom which, in bygone days, used to be very strictly observed. If a chief changed his name, as in the cases above referred to, and took as a name a word in common use having any connection with food, some other w»ol was forthwith substituted for the word o appropriated, which thereafter ceased to be used. I recollect instances, of this in the Bay of Plenty. A chief took the name of Te Wai Aliut (spirit-water), and forthwith the word ngongi was substituted for wai, which was dropped, both words meaning water. In another case the word km (food) formed part of the names assumed by"«hiefs — Korokai and N<ja Kai. The use of the word Kai, for food, ceased in consequence, and the words " Kame" and " Tatni ' were used instead.

Other peculiar uses of names were the Tapatapa and Takuiuku. To tapa anything was to give the name of a person to it, the effect of which was to put it, figuratively, into the keeping of the person named, after which any other person taking a liberty with it would be regarded as offering insult to the person whose name had been so used. The object was to associate the person named with the owner or claimant in defending or maintaining possession of the thing "tapa' -ed. To resort to tins mode of proceeding was regarded as a gross insult to the party concerned, who was thus baulked in any attempt to possess himself of the property in dispute, and often led to reprisals in some shape. The form of "tapatapa" was, " IVaiho te mea ko Mea" " Let the thing be So and So." It was throwing down the gauntlet, not your own glove, but that of some other person. Another use of a name was in time of war—threatened or actual; —a chief of high rank nearly connected with both belligerents, if desirous of pre venting or ending strife, would sometimes name a war-path his backbone, " lioi tuaroa," aud if, after his having done so, either side used the path with hostile purposes it would be regarded as a mortal offence to bo wiped out only in blood. Other peculiar uses of names of persons and Maori customs connected with them might be noticed, but with your permission, I will pass on to Maori names of places, as the part of my subject to which I purpose to devote the larger portion of the time allotted to me.

In entering upon this branch of my subject I would take the opportunity of expressing my regret that we colonists, having adopted Maoriland as our country professing our wish and intention to occupy it together, and upon equal terms, with those who were here before us,— original possessors—should have allowed so many of the native names of places to fill into disuse—should consent to let them be lost and forgotten. We have built cities, and we were right to give them names. Our houses, our streets, our roads—everything which ive have brought into being—we were warranted in naming, but the mountains, the bays, the rivers, lakes, forests, the grand natural features of these islands, had names before we came here, and why should they not be preserved? Is it well or creditable to our sentiment that they should pass into oblivion?

It has been said that Maori words are bo difficult of pronunciation. I quite fail to understand how it can have come to pass that Maori words or names should be thought difficult to pronounce. It appears to me that the sounds of the Maori language are so few and so simple that, if two or three plain rales are observed, no name or word need present any serious difficulty. If only it be borne in mind that the language is dissyllabic ; that the vowels have the Continental sound ; that every syllable ends with a vowel; in fact, consists of a single consonant followed by a vowel, or a so - called single vowel, which can be uttered by the voice as a single sound capable of being prolonged indefinitely; that names having many syllables are compound words and may be broken up, as it were, into their component parts, which may be dealt with separately, as a preliminary process— believe that any difficulty apparent on first sight would vanish. Simplicity is the main characteristic of the Maori language; indeed, I cannot conceive of anything, more simple, so far as the mere pronunciation of

the words is concerned. Its words are formed from dissyllabic roots; each syllable is compounded of a consonant qualified by a vowel, which is required to make it utterable. The consonant sound at the end of a word found in most other languages excepting only in the case of the sibilant—incapable of beng dwelt on or prolonged, and the fact that all Maori words aud syllables end with a vowel makes the language remarkably adapted for singing. I may here say that I differ from most of the recognised authorities on the question of the sounds which go to make Maori words as spoken by the Maori, and which are represented by fifteen letters or signs five vowels aud eight single and two double consonants. The Maori language was, as we all know, reduced to writing by the early Missionaries, who caught as it were the utterances of Maori speakers, and endeavoured to re-produce them by using these English letters, and it is remarkable how well adapted and suitable for the purpose they prove. Still, as equivalents for the Maori souuds, they are not perfect. Among the consonants the English r approximates only to the sound of the. cor-rectly-pronounced Maori words spelt with that letter. That sound might be described as a compound or compromise between d, 1, and r, partaking of, or approaching to, the sound of all and each. (It may be observed here that English-speaking people pronounce the r in different ways). In an early attempt to reduce the " Maori language to writing, made by Professor Lee in the year 1820, these three letters were given as used by the Maoris, and instances of the use of the d are given in his vocabulary of words which are now spelt with the r only; the fact is that none of these letters give exactly the proper sound. As caught by the ear of the careful listener, with the vowels a, o, and generally with e, the sound is like our r, as in ra, ranyi ; repo, rere ; roro, raro. With the vowel i, it often sounds like I, ringa-rinya, almost linga-linga. With the vowel u, it is more like d: rua, runga, almost dua, dunga. Tlih name of a noted chief in the Bay of Islands, which we now spell with r, was in the early days spelt and pronounced Duatara. The sound represented by the letter t is something between t and th—a t pronounced thickly. Words usually spelt with the aspirate h are differently pronounced in different parts of New Zealand. In the North it is almost a sibilant. The Ngapuhi Maori says, E hou, etc. (not soa, or slioa, but between these two). In old books names now spelt with H are spelt with sh—Shungee for Hongi, Shukianga for Hokianga. In the South, among the Whanganui tribes, the place of the aspirate is taken by a sort of jerk of the voice. The Whanganui man does not say E hoal but 'e'oa! 'acre mail 'o mas. Hence many persons have fallen into the error of writing the name Whanganui without the h—Wangauui. The Whanganui Maori does not, however, simply drop the h : —he substitutes for it the jerk of the voice; he does not say for he hara (an offence), e ara (arise), but 'e 'ara; not o mai instead of homai, but 'o mai.

The nasal sound indicated by the letters ng, is by some persons found difficult to master. The difficulty is, I think, more apparent than real. It is merely putting to the beginning of a word the nasal or ringing sound with which we are familiar at the md of a word, as in "singing," " speaking," etc. The child who sings " Ringa ringa rosie," twice gives the sound of the ng, with the vowel a — "nga." It is equally easy to get the sound of ng in combination with the other vowels, thus : " Flowing ever:" " Bringing over;" Spreading" ooze. (Not, however, with the hard g Bound, e.g., we must not say flowinggever, hringing-gover.) In these words the ng occurs four times. If they are repeated slowly, and the nasal sound is prolonged each time it occurs, so us to blend with the vowel which follows it, you cannot help gutting the sound of the ng in combination with the vowels e. i, o and u. With respect to the vowels, I believe I stand alone in the opinion that a has but one sound, as in the English words "far." "father." Archdeacon (afterwards Bishop) Williams, in his dictionary, gives a second sound, as in " water." Dr. Mauusell gives two sounds, as in " fall," and as in " fat." It is a question of ear. If my ear has been true to me, there is no such sound in Maori as we give to " a " in "water," to the "a" in "fall," or to tho "a" in "fat." It is that of tho "a "in " father " or " far," and that only. The ear is liable to be misled; in noting the difference of sound in words in which the a is long from that in words where it is short—as in " matenga," the head, and " matenga,"dying. The a in the latter word is often pronounced by Pakehas as in the words matter, scatter, et„*. This is wrong. An unsophisticated Maori does not so pronounce it, though I have heard a Maori imitate the pakena pronunciation in this and in other words. We have, comparatively, few English words where the "a " is pronounced as in "aroma," "marvellous," and so many where it is sounded as "rat," "cat," "bat," etc., that the error is one easily fallen into. But let it be tested by prolonging the vowel sounds, as is often done in a Maori song. If you prolong the "a" sound of the syllable "ma" in "mate," as we give it in cat, fat, etc., I think it will be at once perceived that the sound is not Maori at all.

The e has the simple French or Continental sound, and that only. I also repudiate the doctrine that there are diphthongs in Maori. The combinations of vowels which are called diphthongs are simply dissyllables. Each vowel has its own perfect proper sound. There is no coalescing or blending of sound. At is as miuh a dissyllable as ate ; ai as alii, ati, api ; ao as amo, aro, apo ; ei (in nei} as e.mi : au, as aim, am, aril, aha. In every case the vowels are, both in sound and in form, as perfect dissyllables us when standing in the same position relatively, with a consonant between them, and the terminal vowel sound is capable of > being prolonged indefinitely. Vowels which learners are told to pronounce long are really dissyllables, which strictly speaking should be spelt with the vowel letter doubled. A (to drive) should be spelt ««. To illustrate my meaning I will take a word— Papa. This is a dissyllabic root word containing the idea of flatness or extension of surface, which appears in many of its compounds ; —as haupapa, kopapa, tipapa, paparahi, paparite, all carrying the idea contained in-the root. Papa or papaa, is another word, signifying to crackle or explode with noise, usually spelt, however, with the same letters as the first word. Papa or paapaa is a third word, also usually spelt with the same letters, the meaning of which is " father." In the second and third words the root is pa or paa, containing the idea of touch, or contact. In the former, used in connection with "Kuapapa" —" the parties have met in conflict,'' " have joined battle." In the latter, suggesting the idea of touch or connection in the paternal relationship—pakuha connections by marriage. Reverting to the question of the proper pronunciation of Maori names, I repeat that in my opinion no insurmountable obstacle stands in the way of anyone desiring to acquire the art—or accomplishment. [To be continued.]