Other formats

    TEI XML file   ePub eBook file  

Connect

    mail icontwitter iconBlogspot iconrss icon

The New Zealand Railways Magazine, Volume 10, Issue 6 (September 2, 1935)

The Wisdom of the Maori

page 39

The Wisdom of the Maori

North Auckland Railway Station Names.

In continuation of the series of New Zealand railway station Maori names and their origin and meanings, I give the remaining names on the section north of Auckland city, carrying it on then into the South Auckland district.

Ranganui:

Great parade; long line of warriors or charging party.

Kaiwaka:

To hollow out, like a canoe, or like

a kaka parrot pecking a hole in a tree.

Töpuni:

A dogskin mat or cloak.

Kaipara:

To eat frost fish; also a meal of the para fern-root (Marattia Fraxinea).

Tanigo-wähine:

Seizing or abducting a woman. Sometimes given as tangi-wahine, meaning woman's lament or weeping.

Kiri-köpuni:

Dark skin; also a black-skinned eel.

Rötu:

A magic spell which produces sleep; a mesmeric incantation.

Parore:

This station was named after the celebrated old chief Parore te Awha, who lived on the northern Wairoa and died in 1887, aged nearly a hundred years. He was always very friendly to the Europeans. One meaning of the word is gentle, soft, agreeable; it is also the name of a fish, bream, black perch.

Whātoro:

To stretch out; thrust forward.

Maropiu:

A swinging or swaying loin-mat; the swing of the kilt.

Aranga:

The act of rising.

Ahikiwi:

Fire to cook the kiwi bird.

Hōteo:

One of several names for a calabash.

Ahuroa:

Long mound or hillock.

Tähekeroa:

Long rapid in a river, or a long cataract.

Kanohi:

Eye; also face.

Kaukapakapa:

Swimming with much splashing; flapping wings.

Punganui:

Probably a misspelling of ponganui, meaning a large fern tree.

Wharepapa:

A house built of planks or boards.

Rewiti

Named after a chief of the Ngatiwhatua tribe, Rewiti (called after the missionary family Davis).

Waimauku:

Stream of the small ground ferns, maidenhair fern, etc.

Huapai:

Modern coined name, meaning the place of excellent fruit.

Kümeü:

Pulling or stretching the breasts.

Taupaki:

A kilt or loin-mat (rapaki) also fine-weather season.

Ranui:

Abundant sunshine; modern coined name.

Waitākere:

River-bed; also cascade stream.

Stations South of Auckland.

Orakei:

The place of adorning, beautifying.

Pūrewa:

To float, be buoyant. Tokapurewha, the eastern head of Okahu Bay, Orakei, means mussel rock.

Tamaki:

Ancient Polynesian word for battle. Also a sudden nervous start or twitch, regarded as an omen. Tamaki-makaurau is the classic name of the Auckland isthmus, the land over which the city and suburbs extend, and the country generally known as the Tamaki Plains. It means “Tamaki of a hundred lovers,” referring figuratively to the many battles of tribes on north and south for the possession of this desirable region.

Remuera:

Properly Remu-wera, the burnt hem or edge of a flax garment. Named after an incident of ancient times.

Te Pāpapa:

A small plant, the soft leaf of which was used as a dressing for wounds and sores.

Onehunga:

A term applied to the soil, signifying rich arable land; alluvial and volcanic soil.

Otāhuhu:

The home of Tahuhu, a chief of olden times, whose pa was on the volcanic hill on the north of the present town.

Māngere:

Lazy.

Papatoetoe:

Level area of land covered with the toetoe swamp-rush, with its tall feathery-topped stalks (Arundo conspicua), much used in house thatching. (Often incorrectly spelled toitoi.)

Puhinui:

A word with many meanings. One is a very large variety of eel; another, a large bunch of feathers, as an ornament—in particular, the plumes decorating a canoe.

Wiri:

To shiver, tremble; also to bore or twist; and a lock in wrestling. But this “wiri” is, I believe, a contraction of the pakeha-Maori name “Wirihana,” or Wilson; named after a chief, known as Takanini Wilson, who lived in this district. (See Takanini.)

Homai:

Give to the person speaking.

Manurewa:

The soaring bird.

Mahia:

Sound, resound; also the passive and imperative forms of the verb mahi, to work.

Takanini:

Named after the Takanini family. The old chief Ihaka Takanini, a great friend of the early colonists, lived near Papakura. In 1863, he was made prisoner by the Government under the impression that he was an enemy. It was shown that this was a mistake, nevertheless he was kept a prisoner of war on one of the small islands in the Hauraki until he died in 1864. His tribe was the Akitai.

Tironui:

Great view, or long view.

Papakura:

Level land of red soil.

Pukekohe:

Hill of the tree kohekohe, which grew abundantly here.

Paerata:

Rata ridge or hill. On this conspicuous hill, which descends steeply to the plain, a very large and lofty rata tree grew, towering above the other timber. The historic Burt's Farm homestead, the scene of an attack by Maoris in 1863, stands on this long hill, about half a mile from the celebrated tree. The timber here is chiefly puriri.

page 40