DICTIONARY IN THE MAKING

Te Ao Hou, July 1955, Page 50

DICTIONARY IN THE MAKING TE PUKAPUKA O TE REO MAORI a TE WIREMU Kei te whakaraneatia atu nga kupu mo roto i te kape tuarima o Te Pukapuka nei, a kua tata te oti; tona nui o nga kupu Maori kaore i uru ki te pukapuka o te kape kua korerotia ake nei. Heoi ki te whakaaro iho tera e ahei te taa i te kape hou tua ono hei tapiri ki te kape tuarima. He tino mea nui tenei; a pai atu mo te hunga e aronui ana ki te ako i te reo Maori. Koia nei tetehi raruraru nui o te ako i te reo Maori. Ko te ruarua o nga pukapuka kaupuka kaupapa tuturu o nga kupu o te reo Maori e ahei ai te tangata ki te ako i taua reo. Ka mutu ano ko ta Te Wiremu, a kua torutoru noaiho hoki, i te mea kua kore i taia. Tuarua ki te hokona mai tetehi inaianei, he utu nui rawa ka riro mai. Noreira ka whakaarongia kia ata waihangatia he kape tua-ono hei tapiri atu ki te kape tuarima; ehara i te mea he pukapuka hou rautami i ta Te Wiremu, engari hei tapiri kau atu. Ko nga kupu o tenei kape, he mea ata waihanga; wananga rawa, e tetahi ropu he mea ata whiriwhiri mai no tena wahanga no tena wahanga o te iwi Maori, he tohunga mo te whakamarama i te kupu Maori ki te reo Pakeha. Ko te whakaaro kia wahangatia he Tapiri tuaono mo te “Pukapuka o te reo Maori a Te Wiremu” i pupu ake i a Ta Apirana Ngata i te tau 1949. Ka awhinatia e te Minita monga take Maori o taua wa, e te Rt. Hon. Pita Pereiha. Ka tu ko Ta Apirana hei tiamana, ko M. R. Jones no (Waikato-Maniapoto) hei Tepu-tiamana a ko J. McEwen te Hekeretari. Ko enei tokorua he apiha no te tari mo nga take Maori i Poneke. Timata tonu atu te whakaemi haere i etehi kupu i kitea iho i roto i nga korero a Aritana Te Peehi me etehi atu; he mea tango mai no etehi putonga kupu Maori i roto i te (Polynesian Journal). He tuturu kupu Maori. Ko McEwen te EXPANDED WILLIAMS DICTIONARY WILL SOON BE AVAILABLE The revision of the fifth edition of the Williams Maori-English dictionary, at present being undertaken, is nearly completed. It is intended to have the new edition published before the end of the year. This is good news for all those interested in the Maori language as Williams, the only full dictionary can rarely be bought today and copies, when available, are usually priced high. With the present live interest in the language the lack of suitable dictionaries has been a considerable obstacle to students. The reason for a revised edition rather than a reprint can largely be found in the preface to the Williams fifth edition which says, inter alia: ‘There must be many hundreds of genuine Maori words still unrecorded, and much further light may yet be thrown upon many of those already treated.’ The new edition will contain two or three thousand words and meanings not included in the old one For all that the committee feels that the fifth edition is a remarkably good job, and with all it additions, the sixth will still be substantially based on the methods, the scholarship and patient per severance of H. G. Williams. It will cost £6000 to print. In addition there i considerable editorial expense. Like so many of the good things in Maori lif the new edition owes its beginning to Sir Apiran Ngata. In 1949 he talked the matter over with the then Minister of Maori Affairs, the Rt. Ho Mr Fraser, who arranged for a meeting to be he at which Sir Apirana and others discussed the project. This resulted in the dictionary revision committee being formed with Sir Apirana as chai man; Mr M. R. Jones (Waikato-Maniapoto) of to Department of Maori Affairs, Wellington, deputy chairman and Mr J. M. McEwen, secretary.

tangata i kaha ki te ata titiro i te kupu mehe mea he tuturu Maori a ehara noa ranei. No tenei wa o te mahi nei, ka hinga te koroua a Ta Apirana, a ka tu ko M. R. Jones hei tiamana, ka haere tonu te mahi a te komiti, kei te nui hoki nga kupu kua rapopoto te whakaemi e McEwen. No te hui a te Komiti i tu ki Turanga ka rihaina a McEwen i tana turanga hekeretari, i te mea kua oti ia te w hakatu hei Komihana mo te moutere o Niue; ka tu ko Wiremu Ngata hei hekeretari. I te hui a te Komiti i tu ki Akarana i te Noema 1954 ka kitea i reira e tika ana kia karangatia ano he hui, kia ata tirotirohia me te ata wananga haere ano, i nga kupu kua oti nei te whakaemi. I tino taumaha nga mahi o taua hui, ata tairuhi ana nga mema i te turakahatanga ki te whakatikatika me te wananga i te tikanga o te kupu. E rua nga wiki o te komiti e hui ana ka hiki. Ahakoa hiki te hui ko te mahi ma tena, ma tena ka haere tonu. Kua oti i te hekeretari te tuha haere o nga kupu, hei whakamarama ma tena mema ma tena mema, i na hoki atu ki tona kainga. Kei te huinga o te Komiti i muri atu, tera e mama nga mahi; ko reira i a mema whakapuaki ai i ana whakamarama mo nga kupu i ata tirohia iho e ia te tupunga mai me ona tikanga. Penei me te kupu nei me (Kiringutu) me etehi atu. Na ko (Kiringutu) kua hoatu ma Rev. Dan Kaa e kimi atu ona whakamarama, kei te kiia hoki no Ngati Porou tenei kupu. Na ko tetehi ko (Koheko). E kia ana a Te Hurinui Pei Jones tona whakamarama (mataara ara moe hewa) (“Koheko noa ana i te po ko koe anake”) (Moteatea, part I waiata 60). Kaore kau enei kupu e rua i roto i te “Puka-puka Reo Maori a Te Wiremu. Koia nei mahi a te Komiti nei, tera atu etehi o nga kupu e whakapororaru nei i nga whakaaro; no reira i tika ai kia tino whakatuturutia nga whakamarama o ia kupu o ia kupu ka tuhia nei ki te tapiri-tuaono a te Pukapuka Reo Maori a Te Wiremu. He nui tonu nga kupu kei roto i te Pukapuka Reo Maori a Te Wiremu kaore ano i ata tirotirohia e te nuinga o nga mema o te komiti. Tera hoki etehi kupu kei roto i nga waiata, patere, oriori, kaore he whakamarama i roto i te Pukapuka a Te Wiremu a i roto ranei i te Tapiri tuarima. Hei whakaatu i te whanui o te kowhiti haere i nga mema mo te Komiti whakatikatika i te Pukapuka Reo Maori a Te Wiremu koia enei o taua ropu. Ta Apirana Ngata (kua mate) no (Ngati Porou), M. R. Jones no (Waikato-Maniapoto), J. M. McEwen; the Rt. Revd. W. N. Panapa, Bishop o Aotearoa no (Ngapuhi); Rongo Halbert (Rongowhakaata Turanga), Revd. Dan Kaa (Ngati-Porou); Raniera Kingi (no Te Arawa); Pei te Hurinui Jones (Waikato-Maniapoto); Rangi Royal (Ngati Raukawa, Ngati Maru, Mataatua), Eru Pou no (Ngapuhi); Revd. Canon Paora Temuera no (Ngati Raukawa); W. T. Ngata no (Ngati Porou); B. Biggs (Waikato-Maniapoto); Morris Jones; Kepa Ehau no (te Arawa); Hoeroa Marumaru (kua, mate, no Ngati Apa, Wainui a rua). Mr McEwen, though a pakeha, has a wide knowledge of Maori and Polynesian dialects and legends. When appointed secretary to the committee he was an officer of the Department of Maori Affairs, Wellington. For a start the bulk of the work consisted of gathering new material such as word lists compiled by Elsdon Best and published in the Polynesian Journal, as well as unpublished lists by committee members. These were genuine Maori words. It was not intended to introduce Maori versions of pakeha words into the dictionary proper though a glossary of these words will be included. Most of the work associated with compiling the additional words was done by Mr McEwen. It was at that stage that Sir Apirana died. Mr Jones became chairman and the committee decided to carry on working mainly from the material which Mr McEwen had in hand. Apart from the word lists this included copies of Williams' dictionary annotated by Sir Apirana from information mainly gathered through his work on Nga Moteatea. Mr McEwen carried on arranging the work for the committee's consideration but before the next meeting of the committee, which was held at Gisborne, he relinquished the secretary's job as he was taking up the position of Resident Commissioner, Niue. Mr W. T. Ngata took over the secretary's position. The committee, meeting in Auckland last November, actually worked its way through to the end of the dictionary though at that stage it had deferred defining many words so that further research could be made. That meeting was a long grind lasting two weeks. For the first week the committee met in the evenings for two hours as well as throughout the days. Towards the end of the week the strain began to tell so for the second week the evening session was dropped. At the same time the day sessions were lengthened. Even so it meant that the committee members had more free time. It is not only at the meetings though that the members have to work on the dictionary. The method of preparing for committee meetings has been for the secretary to have all notes on words and meanings to be added or changed to be typed on pages numbered corresponding to the dictionary page where the additions would occur. Copies of these notes have been sent to all committee members who have then been able to consider them and interleave the notes in their own dictionaries. At full committee meetings the interleaved suggestions have been considered. Other words and meanings have also been discussed where any member desired to make a point. But the committee as a whole has not considered every word in the existing dictionary. Neither have individual members been responsible to do so though some have done much research on words additional to those which they were asked to consider. Many of the words which do not appear in the Williams fifth edition have been found in chants

A lot of these words are explained in Sir Apirana's Nga Moteatea. Legends have also been a source of words and meanings not given in the dictionary. Words deferred for further research have been made the responsibility of particular committee members. Where the words have a known local origin they are referred to the member with a knowledge of that area. A random example of the way words, the exact meaning of which could not be determined by the committee, were dealt with is found in the case of the word kiringutu. This word is associated with the Ngati Porou tribe so it was left to the Rev. Dan Kaa, a committee member who is also a member of Ngati Porou to do some research on the word to help the committee make a sound decision on its definition. At time of writing no decision had been made on that particular word. Another example is the word koheko. This word was referred to Mr Pei Te Hurinui Jones, a committee member. He has suggested that it means sleepless or be wide awake. The word occurs in Nga Moteatea, Part 1, waiata 80, as follows: Koheko noa ana i tou po ko koe anake. The meaning there is not clear. Neither kiringutu or koheko appeared in Williams fifth edition. In the personnel of the committee many areas are represented and between them the members have a knowledge of the language covering the whole of New Zealand. The members of the committee and others who have taken part in the revision are: the late Sir Apirana Ngata (Ngai Porou tribe). Mr M. R. Jones, (Waikato-Maniapoto), Mr J. M. McEwen, the Rt. Rev. W. N. Panapa, Bishop of Aotearoa (Nga Puhi). Mr Rongo Halbert (Ngati Rongowhakaata), Rev. Dan Kaa (Ngati Porou), Mr Raniera Kingi (Aawa), Mr Pei Te Hurinui Jones (Waikato-Maniapoto). Mr Rangi Royal (Ngati Raukawa, Ngati Maru, Mataatua), Mr Eru Pou (Nga Puhi), Rev. Paora Temuera (Ngati Raukawa). Mr W. T. Ngata (Ngati Porou), Mr B. Biggs (Waikato-Maniapoto), Mr Morris Jones, Mr Keepa Ehau (Arawa), and the late Mr Mr Hoeroa Marumaru (Wainuiarua). The decorative scheme of the Maori Affairs Committee Room in Parliament Buildings is to be completed. At one end of the room is a representation of a Maori entrance porch. On one side is a large panel which will contain a photographic representation of the Treaty of Waitangi; and in two small panels will be placed portraits of four great Maori leaders—Sir James Carroll, Sir Peter Buck, Sir Maui Pomare, and Sir Apirana Ngata. The loyal address to the Queen and her reply will be displayed on the other side.