What is the Meaning of "Aotearoa?"

Rodney and Otamatea Times, Waitemata and Kaipara Gazette, 3 January 1940, Page 2

What is the Meaning of "Aotearoa?"

The South seeks knowledge from ■ the North. '

A controversy has lately been raging in the correspondence columns of the Grey mouth Argus on the correct meaning of" "Aotearoa." A. Northland Age subscriber in that district has sent some clippings.of the letters, and asked if perhaps some Northerner could throw more light on the matter. "Perhaps I am somewhat biased," he writes, "but nevertheless think the old residents of the North, both Maori and Pakeha, speak the native language best." - The first letter, written by a one-time Northern resident, Mr A. O. Warwick, reads in part: "Since the advent of the flying ship Aotearoa I have on different occasions been asked the meaning thereof. . . . The meaning generally given is 'the long white cloud,' but we of the far north of this Dominion give a somewhat different version. 'Kua ao' means 'daylight'; 'maranga ra' is 'sunrise'; 'aotearoa' is the intervening period—'the long twilight.'" A correspondent answering this letter quoted Mr James Cowan's opinion that Aotearoa as applied to New Zealand means 'long bright land'; though 'long white cloud' is* said the letter, also a correct interpretation and perhaps a more romantic and descriptive one for the name of an airplane. ... . Another writer leans to the translation of 'long bright daytime,' though he admits that there are authorities who incline towards 'land of'the long twilight.' Now, you Maori scholars, what do you consider Aotearoa means? We would welcome your opinions