NOT TUKAPA STREET

Taranaki Daily News, 6 November 1934, Page 6

NOT TUKAPA STREET

SPELLING OF NAME QUESTIONED. MR. GORDON EXPLAINS ORIGIN. Whether “Tukapo” or “Tukapa" is the correct spelling of a street at Westown, New Plymouth, was the point raised by a correspondent to the Daily News after the use of the style “Tukapa.” The correct word, according to Mr. W. F. Gordon, New Plymouth, is “Tukapo.” The word was derived from two Maori expressions, “tu” and “kapo,”. said MrGordon. The story was concerned with a Maori pa on Omata Road, Westown, near Mr; Marfell’s residence. It was related, that once an old Maori was almost blinded by a sudden flash of lightning from a passing thunderstorm. He related the story when he reached the pa, “Tu! Kapo.” The first word meant “To stand” and the second “Struck,” the literal translation being “struck while standing.” The name ‘clung in the quaint style of Maori nomenclature. Maps of the district give the spelling Tukapo, but it has become altered in its application to the Tukapa Football Club. The usage has become popular and established with time, the result has been to make people think that the club’s spelling is correct, especially as “kapa” can be defined as a rank or row. The mistake was made on the sign at the end of the street, and remains “Tukapa.”