MAORI NAMES.

Otago Witness, Issue 2809, 15 January 1908, Page 38

MAORI NAMES.

KAITANGATA AND BIAKURA. (Fkom: Oub Own Correspondent.) WELL-INSTON, January 10. It- appears from** correspondent who writes ta.the New Zealand Times, that the Union Company has not quite got- Khe proper words, or, rather, the right mean;ngof fcir© Maori names, for some of tfae eeceat additions to the fleet. , "Kaitanga-ia," eajs this - authority, literally means 'cannibal,' ov to 'eat human flesh-' — just that and nothing more. Th© Ofcago Daily. Times' version of ' powerful man's good' is a. very pleasant euphemism, for ' long pig.' Kaitangata, the ooalmioingr dKtoist (aa*6L lafce), after whid* -the ateamer was evidently called, was so> named by. the> Maoris' because of a cannibal feast which was the eeguel to an intertribal battle fought there. As to the name Ma/kura,' this is a combination of two TOurHsv ' ma' and ' kura,' which hardly form an equivalent for 'all red; 'white and red? V-a literally correct interpretation of the- name. ' Ma,' also as a conjunction, means 'by- way of or 'by means of,' or 'for," but it is- straining the capacity of the much-abused Maori tongue rather too far £o- .coin Krjfl.' as an equivalent for | all' red.' A more accurate translation of all red' would bo either ' fcura tatoa' or ' wnerQ katoa.' " "I have not seen or heard of my wife for 30 years," said Theophilra Love, when petitioning for a divorce at Wellington from Mary Love, whom he married in 1869. His Honyr granted a decree nisi, to become absolute, ia three months.