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Idioms

Phrases

Proverbs

Loan words

Historical loan words

whenua

1. (noun) land - often used in the plural.

E mea atu ana ahau ki a koutou me whakawhirinaki tātou ki a Tā Āpirana Ngata. Ka taea e ia te wetewete ngā powhiwhi e pā ana ki ngā whenua Māori (TTT 1/3/1929:940). / I am saying to you all that we should rely on Sir Āpirana Ngata. He will be able to unravel the complications concerning Māori lands.
E nui ana te whakaaro o te tangata Māori ki tōna whenua. E tika ana hoki. Ko te matua tērā i tupu ai te oranga mōna, inā hoki, te kōrero onamata — 'Ko Rongomātāne, ko Haumia-tiketike i oma ki te whenua.' (TKP 17/9/1857:2). / The Māori person had great respect for his land. And that is appropriate. It is the source that provides sustenance for him because the traditional saying is 'Rongomātāne (atua of cultivated food) and Haumia-tiketike (atua of uncultivated food) fled to the land.'

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2. (noun) country, land, nation, state.

Ko ngā Kōtimana e noho ana i Rānana i nui kē ake i ō rātou tāngata e noho ana i tō rātou whenua tupu, i te Pā i Erinipara (TW 11/9/1875:209). / The Scottish people living in London are more numerous than the people living in the City of Edinburgh in their own land.

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Synonyms: tuawhenua, motu, oneone, uta, taiwhenua


3. (noun) ground.

Kua hōhonu ki te whenua ngā pakiaka o te rākau e kore e taea te huhuti (TWM 17/7/1869:1). / The roots of the tree are deep into the ground and cannot be pulled out.

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4. (noun) territory, domain.

Haere mai ki Rotorua, te whenua o Ngāti Whakaue, moana kau (TWMNT 24/2/1874:45). / Welcome to Rotorua, the domain of Ngāti Whakaue, which is principally lake.

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5. (noun) placenta, afterbirth.

Kāore i roa i muri mai i te whānautanga ka puta mai te whenua (PK 2008:1170). / Not long after the birth the placenta appeared.

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tangata whenua

1. (verb) (-tia) to be natural, at home, comfortable.

Ki te tīmata mai te ako i te reo i te wā e nohinohi tonu ana ngā tamariki, ka kōrero Māori ngā tamariki rā, ka mau, ā, ka tangata whenua te reo ki roto i a rātou. / If learning the language begins when children are little, those children will speak Māori and the language will be natural to them.

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2. (verb) (-tia) to be naturalised, acclimatise, established, adapted.

Ko tēnei rākau kua tangata whenuatia ki ēnei motu (TTT 1/9/1922:7). / This tree has become naturalized in these islands.

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3. (noun) local people, hosts, indigenous people - people born of the whenua, i.e. of the placenta and of the land where the people's ancestors have lived and where their placenta are buried.

Ko te tangata whenua te hunga pupuri i te mana o tētahi whenua (Te Ara 2013). / The tangata whenua are the people who have authority in a particular place.

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Synonyms: iwi kāinga, haukāinga

mana whenua

1. (noun) territorial rights, power from the land, authority over land or territory, jurisdiction over land or territory - power associated with possession and occupation of tribal land. The tribe's history and legends are based in the lands they have occupied over generations and the land provides the sustenance for the people and to provide hospitality for guests.

(Te Kōhure Video Tapes (Ed. 1): 6;)

Ko au nei te mōrehu kaumātua o roto o taua hapū e ora nei, nō Ngāti Hikawera hoki te mana whenua e mau nei ki a mātau i roto i ēnei rā (TPH 6/8/1904:4). / I am the surviving elder of that subtribe and Ngāti Hikawera also has authority over the land which we hold today.

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See also mana

horo whenua

1. (noun) erosion, landslide.

Haua ana a Papatūānuku e ngā hū nui o ngā puia, ngā rū whenua nui, me ngā horo whenua (Te Ara 2017). / The Earth was hewn by huge eruptions of volcanoes, massive earthquakes and landslides.

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Synonyms: horo, horohoro

huruhuru whenua

1. (noun) shining spleenwort, Asplenium oblongifolium - large tufted native fern with very glossy fronds. Leaflets pointed with fine teeth. Distinctive brown herringbone pattern on the underneath of mature fronds. Common on coastal cliffs, in scrub and forest, usually on ground but also on trees.

Arā anō he aruhe i kainga e te Māori, tae atu ki ngā pihinga o te kōwaowao, te rereti, te mouku, te huruhuru whenua, te koru o te kiokio me te pikopiko (Te Ara 2011). / Māori ate other ground ferns, including the young fronds of hound’s tongue fern, rereti, hen and chickens fern and shining spleenwort. They ate the curled shoots of kiokio and common shield fern.

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Manaaki Whenua

1. Landcare Research.

papa whenua

1. (noun) grounds.

I riro tonu nāna i tiaki te papa whenua o waho mai o te whare karakia (TTR 1998:213). / It was left to him to tend the grounds around the church.

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2. (noun) ground floor.

pito whenua

1. (noun) plot of land, piece of land.

Ka kōrero te pirihimana e iwa ngā tāngata e whai pānga ana ki tētahi pito whenua i Hakanui (TPH 30/5/1912:5). / The policeman said that nine people had interests in a plot of land at Hakanui.

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whenua ōhākī

1. (noun) deathbed land grant - by a dying chief.

whenua papatipu

1. (noun) land held under customary title, ancestral land - the base upon which the hapū was nurtured.

I ngā tekau tau o 1820, o 1830, ka whakarērea e Te Āti Awa ō rātou whenua papatipu ki Taranaki (Te Ara 2014). / In the 1820s and 1830s, Te Āti Awa left their ancestral lands in Taranaki.

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See also whenua papatupu

Synonyms: whenua papatupu

whenua raupatu

1. (noun) confiscated land - land taken by force.

Ka mutu te pakanga, e kōingo tonu ana te Pirimia a Pita Pereiha ki te whakatau i te kāpeneheihana a Tainui mō ngā whenua raupatu (TTR 1998:68). / When the war ended, the Prime Minister, Peter Fraser wanted to settle compensation for Tainui land confiscations.

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whenua tapu

1. (noun) sacred land.

Ka tohe anō a Heke kia mau tonu ngā tika o te iwi me te mana Māori. "Nā te Atua i hanga tēnei whenua mō mātou. E kore e taea te tapatapahi; mehemea he tohorā, kua tapatapahia. Hoki atu koutou ki tō koutou nei whenua, ki te whenua i hangaia mai e te Atua mō koutou. Nā te Atua tēnei mō mātou, ehara mā te tangata tauhou, ehara mā tauiwi hei rahurahu tō mātou whenua tapu.' (TTR 1990:7). / Heke argued that the rights of the people and Māori authority be respected. "God made this country for us. It cannot be sliced up; if it were a whale it might be cut up. Return to your own country, to the land that was made by God for you. God made this land for us; it is not for any stranger or foreign nation to meddle with our sacred country."

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2. (noun) dead ball area (rugby).

whenua taunaha

1. (noun) named land - land claimed by right of discovery.

whenua tuku

1. (noun) gifted land.

He whenua tuku atu tēnei mō ngā Māori o Te Wairarapa i te takiwā o te tau 1912 mō tō rātou tukunga atu i ngā roto o Te Wairarapa ki te kāwanatanga i te tau 1896 (TTR 2000:27). / About 1912 this was land gifted to Wairarapa Māori in compensation for their surrender to the government of the Wairarapa lakes in 1896.

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whenua rāhui

1. (noun) reserve, reserve land - land set aside for a special purpose.

Tata ki te katoa o ngā taitara mō ngā whenua rāhui nei i te herea ki ngā rīhi mutunga kore, utunga paku (Te Ara 2014). / Nearly all of the titles for these reserve lands are tied to low-yielding leases in perpetuity.

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whenua pīrere

1. (noun) temporarily occupied land.

iwi whenua

1. (noun) indigenous people, native people.

Tērā tētahi tangata he Pānioro i mau herehere i ngā rēpara, (arā te iwi whenua o taua motu i whawhai nei ki Pānioro) paitinitia ana e ia ngā kai mō Akuināro, he tianara nō ngā rēpara (TJ 6/10/1898:5). / There was a Spaniard, who was a prisoner of the rebels (that is the indigenous people of that country who fought the Spanish) who poisoned the food for Aguinaldo, a rebel general.

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manawa whenua

1. (modifier) deep underground, unfailing (of a spring).

Nā, ko te puna wai i Motumako he wai manawa whenua (W 1971:174). / Now, the spring of water at Motumako is a water from deep underground.

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2. (noun) deep spring of water.

Ā tēnā, he aha tēnei mea te manawa whenua? Kai roto i ēnei kupu ruarua te rētōtanga o te whakaaro Māori. Ko tēnei mea te manawa whenua he puna wai kai te kōpū o te whenua, he waiū nō Papatūānuku, he kōnakitanga wai taramea (HMW n.d.:5). / Well then, What is this thing called 'manawa whenua'? In these couple of words is the depth of Māori thought. This thing called 'manawa whenua' is a spring of water in the belly of the land, a source of sustenance from Papatūānuku, a spring of fragrant water.

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3. (noun) mineral.

Noho ai te rohe o Te Tau Ihu i runga i ngā manawa whenua e totoro mai ai i te Tai Poutini (Te Ara 2011). / Te Tau Ihu sits on the mineral deposits which extend from Westland.

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murunga whenua

1. land confiscation.

Ka huritao ia ki te matenga o tōna iwi i ngā hōia, ki ngā murunga whenua (TTR 1994:132). / He reflected on the military defeat of his people and the land confiscations.

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whenua tāpui

1. reserve (land), land reserve.

Ka tohua kia rahi atu ngā whenua tāpui me ngā mahinga kai mā Ngāi Tahu me ōna whakatipuranga (TTR 1990:113). / Larger reserves as well as areas where food was produced or gathered were to be set aside for Ngāi Tahu and future generations.

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