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Glossary of Maori Words

• ahere, snare for birds.

• haeremai, welcome.

• hahunga, the ceremony of disintering the bones of the dead and preparing them for their last resting place.

• haka, a dance, accompanied by song. There are many different kinds of haka, and a war haka can be a very fearsome thing.

• hakari, a feast.

• hangi, an oven consisting af a circular hole in the ground in which food was cooked on heated stones.

• harakeke, N.Z. flax. [Phormium tenax]

• he, the indefinite article—a, some.

• he hui, an assembly, a group.

• he iwi tutu, a quarrelsome people.

• he tohu mate, a sign of death.

• hei turanga ngarahu, for the purpose of a war-dance.

• hoha, bored, wearied.

• hohou i te rongo, to make peace.

• hui, to assemble.

• i turia te ngarahu, were assembled to haka.

• ka puta! It appears!

• ka puta te taua! The war party is in sight!

• kahawai, a fish.[Arripis trutta].

• kahikatea, white pine.[Podocarpus excelsum].

• kanga, curse.

• kao, dried kumara

• karakia, worship, incantations.

• kauhoa, a form of palanquin.

• kaumatua, adult, elder

• kauri, a large forest tree. [Agathis australis].

• kete, basket made of strips of flax, &c.

• kia turia te ngarahu, assemble for hakas and speeches.

• kokiro, to set free from tapu.

• [?] koreao, probably korari, the flower stem of Phormium tenax.

• kowhai, a tree. [Sophora tetraptera, and S. microphylla]

• kutu, louse.

• kumara, sweet potato. [Ipcmoea batatas]

• makutu, to bewitch.

• mamae, pain.

• matakitaki, to view, to gaze.

• mate, death.

• mere, a short, flat greenstone weapon used for hand to hand fighting.

• muru, to plunder.

• nakahi, transliteration of the Hebrew word for serpent in Gen. 3.

• namu, sandfly. [Austrosimulium spp]

• ngakau, heart.

• ngarahu, war dance.

• nikau, New Zealand palm [Rhopalostylis sapida], the leaves of which were widely used for the walls and roofs of houses, &c. Such buildings were warm and weatherproof, but dangerously inflammable.

• pa, fortified place, stockade.

• pakeha-maori, the name given to Europeans who made their homes with the Maori people, and adopted Maori customs as their own. Note: in Maori, the adjective follows the noun.

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• parata, the Maori transliteration of “brother”.

• parekura, battle, people slain in battle, massacre.

• patu, a weapon.

• paura, powder, i.e., gun-powder.

• paura mamae, gun-powder tapud for use to commemorate an occasion when the owner was wounded, or hurt.

• pihe, dirge.

• pikopo, the old Maori name for Roman Catholics. It is a transliteration of “bishop”.

• pipi, cockle. [In particular, Chione stutchburyi and Amphidesma australe]

• Po, the place of departed spirits.

• pohutukawa, a scarlet blossomed tree. [Metrosideros excelsa]

• poko noa, something without authority or justification.

• pouri, dark, sorrowful.

• pouri rawa toku ngakau, my heart is very sad.

• puta, to appear.

• rahui, to set apart, to make sacred. [See Best: J.P.S. vol XIII, p83]

• Ra tapu, holy day, Sunday.

• rawa, very.

• rua, pit.

• ruatara, tuatara, a small lizard-like reptile [Sphenodon Punctatus]

• [?] tacopa, perhaps taiepa, which is a name sometimes given to lancewood, which is used for fencing purposes.

• tanekaha, a tree. [Phyllocladus trichomanoides]

• taniwha, mythical reptilian monsters.

• tangata, man.

• tangi, to weep, to bewail. The ceremony of mourning for the dead.

• tangata wakapono, tangata whakapono, believer.

• teretere, company of visitors from a distant tribe.

• tira, company of travellers.

• toetoe, a grass, sedge, &c., of various species, in particular Arundo kakao [conspicua] known as toetoe kakao; a superior variety used for thatching being toetoe rakau. The word was also used to mean a thatch of rushes and came also to mean “shingles”.

• tohe, persistent.

• tohu, sign.

• tohunga, a skilled person, a priest.

• toku, my.

• tupakihi, a shrub. [Coraria arborea]

• tupapaku, corpse.

• tupeka, tobacco.

• turanga ngarahu, war-dance.

• turi rawa, very obstinate.

• tutu, violent, vexatious, bad.

• uira, lightning.

• uira tangata, an outstanding man.

• utu, payment.

• wahi tapu, sacred place: an area, such as a burial ground, set aside as tapu.

• wainga, i.e. waenga, dividing line, boundary.

• waka, canoe.

• waka mamae, a canoe dedicated for a sacred purpose, e.g. to carry a dead person to his last resting place.

• ware, mean, low in social position.

• wata, a high stand for food.

• warekura, wharekura, schoolhouse.

• ware 'ha'hunga, whare hahunga, house for the hahunga.

• whakaaro, thought.

• whakawa, to investigate, adjudicate.

• whare karakia, house of worship.