2. (noun) early morning light, dawn.
Ka tau te rangi, te ata tuhi, te ata rapa, te ata ka māhina, ka māhina te ata i Hikurangi (Te Ara 2017). / The heavens settled, the dawn began to glow, the dawn began to flash, the early morning light shone on Hikurangi (Te Ara 2017).
3. (noun) twilight, dim light.
ata māhina
1. (noun) moonlight.
Whanake te ata māhina ka tae te kuia nei (JPS 1926:96). / When the moon rose this elderly woman arrived.
Synonyms: atarau
Māhina-a-rangi
1. (personal name) a famous ancestor of the East Coast tribes who married Tūrongo, a rangatira from the Tainui people.
(Te Māhuri Textbook (Ed. 2): 117-120;)
I te hononga o Tūrongo rāua ko Māhina-a-rangi ka hono hoki ngā tātai nunui o te Tai-rāwhiti ki ngā tātai o ngā iwi o Tainui (NIT 1995:73). / When Tūrongo and Māhina-a-rangi married they united the chiefly lineages of the East Coast with those of the Tainui tribes.
