Filters

Idioms

Phrases

Proverbs

Loan words

Historical loan words

Filters

Idioms

Phrases

Proverbs

Loan words

Historical loan words

wairua

1. (noun) spirit, soul - spirit of a person which exists beyond death. It is the non-physical spirit, distinct from the body and the mauri. To some, the wairua resides in the heart or mind of someone while others believe it is part of the whole person and is not located at any particular part of the body. The wairua begins its existence when the eyes form in the foetus and is immortal. While alive a person's wairua can be affected by mākutu through karakia. Tohunga can damage wairua and also protect the wairua against harm. The wairua of a miscarriage or abortion can become a type of guardian for the family or may be used by tohunga for less beneficial purposes. Some believe that all animate and inanimate things have a whakapapa and a wairua. Some believe that atua Māori, or Io-matua-kore, can instill wairua into something. Tohunga, the agents of the atua, are able to activate or instil a wairua into something, such as a new wharenui, through karakia. During life, the wairua may leave the body for brief periods during dreams. The wairua has the power to warn the individual of impending danger through visions and dreams. On death the wairua becomes tapu. It is believed to remain with or near the body and speeches are addressed to the person and the wairua of that person encouraging it on its way to Te Pō. Eventually the wairua departs to join other wairua in Te Pō, the world of the departed spirits, or to Hawaiki, the ancestral homeland. The spirit travels to Te Reinga where it descends to Te Pō. Wairua of the dead that linger on earth are called kēhua. During kawe mate, or hari mate, hura kōhatu and other important occasions the wairua is summoned to return to the marae.

(Te Kōhure Textbook (Ed. 2): 221-228;)

Haere rā i a koe ka kōpikopiko atu ki Te Hono-i-wairua, ki te kāpunipunitanga o te wairua (TTR 1998:37). / We farewell you as you wend your way to the Gathering Place of Spirits, the meeting place of departed souls.
Te tinana, te hinengaro, me te wairua ēnei e toru, te mea nui o ēnei ko te wairua. Te tinana: he anga kau nō te wairua. Te hinengaro: he kaiwhakaatu ki te ao he pēnei nā te wairua kei roto i te tangata (TTT 1/12/1930:2215). / Of these three things, the body, the mind and the spirit, the most important is the spirit. The body is the vehicle for the spirit. The mind shows the world what the spirit of the person is like.

Show example

Hide example


2. (noun) attitude, quintessence, feel, mood, feeling, nature, essence, atmosphere.

Ko te wairua o te kōrero, kia Māori mai (HM 2/1994:10). / The feel of the language should be Māori.

Show example

Hide example


3. (noun) bonfire moss, common cord-moss, Funaria hygrometrica - a moss that grows in profusion on moist, shady, and damp bare soil, especially on sites of old fires, and in plant pots in glasshouses and shadehouses. Found throughout Aotearoa/New Zealand.

ranga wairua

1. (noun) inspiration.

Ka mahue mai nei ko ōna whakaaro, ko tōna kaha me tōna ngākau whakakatakata hei ranga wairua ki tōna iwi (TTR 2000:233). / His ideas, energy and humour were left as an inspiration to his people.

Show example

Hide example

wairua poke

1. (noun) haunting spirit, unclean spirit.

Ka puta mai te wairua poke i roto i te tangata, ka hāereere rā ngā wāhi maroke rapu okiokinga ai, ā tē kitea (PT Matiu 12:43). / When the unclean spirit is gone out of a man, he walketh through dry places, seeking rest, and findeth none.

Show example

Hide example

Wairua Tapu

1. (personal name) Holy Ghost.

I a Pita anō e kōrero ana i ēnei kupu, ka tau iho te Wairua Tapu ki te hunga katoa e whakarongo ana ki te kupu (PT Nga Mahi a nga Apotoro 10:44). / While Peter yet spake these words, the Holy Ghost fell on all them which heard the word.

Show example

Hide example

awe wairua

1. (noun) psyche.

Ko te puna i ahu mai tōna awe wairua, hoki rā anō ki ngā tauira me ngā āhuatanga o tuawhakarere (TTR 1998:184). / For the sources for his inspiration he returned to the characters and forms of the past.

Show example

Hide example

hauora wairua

1. (noun) spiritual health.

tangata wairua tuakoi

1. (noun) person with schizophrenia, schizophrenic.

māuiui wairua tuakoi

1. (noun) schizophrenia.

Rerenga-wairua, Te

1. (location) Cape Rēinga, Leaping Place of Spirits.

Moriānuku: ——He puke kei Te Rerenga-wairua. Hei reira ngā wairua poroparoaki mai ai ki te ao tūroa (M 2004:204). / Moriānuku: A hill at Te Rerenga-wairua (The Leaping Place of Spirits). There the spirits bid farewell to the enduring world.

Show example

Hide example

tae-ā-wairua

1. (verb) to be there in spirit.

tae ā-wairua

1. (verb) to be there in spirit.

See also tae-ā-wairua

Hono-i-Wairua, Te

1. (location) Gathering Place of the Spirits.

Haere rā i a koe ka kōpikopiko atu ki Te Hono-i-wairua, ki te kāpunipunitanga o te wairua (TTR 1998:37). / We farewell you as you wend your way to the Gathering Place of Spirits, the meeting place of departed souls.

Show example

Hide example

whakaau

1. (noun) token of the wairua - left at Te Rerenga-wairua as the wairua travels to Te Reinga.

Ka tae mai te wairua o te tangata, ka waiho tana whakaau i Te Ārai, he rae tēnei e kōkiri ana ki te moana whaka-te-hauāuru. Ka haere ka piki i te puke ki Haumu, ko te whakaau mutunga tēnei. Ka kitea i konei, mehemea he kota he pīngao rānei te whakaau nō te taha moana tēnei tangata. Mehemea he rau rākau tana whakaau, nō te ngahere tēnei tangata (TTT 1/7/1922:13). / When the person's spirit arrives it leaves its token at Te Ārai, a headland jutting out into the sea to the west. It goes on and climbs the hill at Haumu, where the final token is left. When these are seen here, if the token is a shell or a piece of pīngao, this person is from a coastal place. If its token is tree leaves, then this person is from the forest.

Show example

Hide example

Haumu

1. (location) place at Te Rerenga-wairua - a hillock where the wairua is said to stop and look back to the place where they can look back on the country where their friends are still living. Also said to leave a whakaau, a token of the spirit having rested there on its way to Te Reinga.

Haumu: Ki ētahi whakahua he puke, ki ētahi he one. Kei Te Rerenga-wairua, e whakahuatia ana i roto i ngā kupu mihi ki te tūpāpaku, i ngā tangi apakura hoki (M 2007:18). / Haumu: To some it is a hillock, to others a beach. It is at Te Rerenga-wairua and is mentioned in eulogies to the dead and in laments.
Haere atu, e pā! Haere ki Paerau, takahia atu te one ki Haumu, hoatu ki ērā tini i te pō! (TP 7/1906:9). / Farewell, sir! Go to Paerau, and travel along the beach to Haumu, and go on to the multitude in the world of the dead!

Show example

Hide example

tahutahu

1. (verb) (-na) to cook, set on fire, light, set alight, burn.

I te marama o Hōngongoi, kua tino mātao te tangata, me te tahutahu ahi, ka pāinaina (HM 2/1990). / In the month of July a person is very cold and must light a fire and warm oneself.

Show example

Hide example


2. (verb) to perform karakia for the wairua.

awe

1. (noun) white feathers, feather plume, plume (of an albatross or heron), cloud.

He awe toroa nō runga i a Kārewa (JPS 1909:192). / An albatross plume from Kārewa Island.

Show example

Hide example


2. (noun) long white hairs - used for decorating clothing, weapons, etc.

Ka whitia e ia te rapa o tōna taiaha ki runga; ka ruia ngā awe, ka pūaha (JPS 1911:22). / He turned the blade of his taiaha upwards, and shook its tuft of white dog's hair so that it opened out.

Show example

Hide example


3. (noun) strength, power, influence.

I muri tata iho i tōna hokinga mai i Pēwhairangi, ka hora tōna awe ki roto o Ngāti Porou (TTR 1990:164). / Soon after his return from the Bay of Islands his influence spread amongst Ngāti Porou.

Show example

Hide example


4. (noun) soot.

Kei tua i te awe kāpara, he tangata kē māna e noho te ao nei, he mā (JPS 1907:65). / Behind the tattooed face there is a different person who will inherit this world and he is not tattooed. (A prophecy possibly predicting the changes that have occurred in Māori culture and society. The 'awe kāpara' is the tattooing pigment made from soot.)

Show example

Hide example


5. (noun) soul, an object used by a tohunga in which to place a person's wairua.

Ko te awe he rite anō ki te wairua, engari, koirā te tino o tō wairua. Nā reira, ka noho tonu te wairua e kōrero ake nei koe tō wairua i roto i a koe, engari, ka tīkina e koe tētahi mea pēnei i te matimati nei, i te makawe nei, i te kōhatu nei, i te rau rākau, i te peka rākau, he aha rānei, kātahi ka haria ki te tohunga kia karakiahia e te tohunga. I reira kua noho mai taua mea rā hei awe mō tō wairua, arā, ka hunaia e koe ki tētahi wāhi. Ka haere mai ngā karakia a te tohunga mākutu i a koe e hāngai ana ki a koe kei te huna kē te awe o tō wairua. Nā, e kore e taea te whakamate i tō tinana kia ngaro ai tō wairua (Wh4 2004:224). / The 'awe' is very similar to the 'wairua', but it's the essence of your spirit. And so the spirit that you are talking about dwells within you, but you should procure something such as a fingernail, a strand of hair, a stone, a leaf, a branch, or whatever, and take it to the tohunga for him to perform a ritual chant over. There that thing becomes the 'awe' for your spirit, and so you hide it somewhere. If a tohunga directs ritual chants to bewitch you, then the essence of your spirit is hidden away. So he will not be able to damage your body to destroy your spirit.

Show example

Hide example

Moriānuku

1. (location) hill at Te Rerenga-wairua (The Departing place of Spirits).

Tērā pea koe ka iria he maunga, ngā tai tangi mai o Manukau i raro; Ki Ngā Puhi rā ia, ki Wainukumamao, ki Moriānuku; te huri rawa mai tō wairua ora ki au ki konei (M 2004:202). / Perhaps you are lingering on a mountain, with the tides of Manukau lamenting below; or with Ngā Puhi afar, at Wainukumamao, or at Moriānuku; where you will turn and present your spirit, as if in life, to me here.

Show example

Hide example

Hawaiki

1. (location) ancient homeland - the places from which Māori migrated to Aotearoa/New Zealand. According to some traditions it was Io, the supreme being, who created Hawaiki-nui, Hawaiki-roa, Hawaiki-pāmamao and Hawaiki-tapu, places inhabited by atua. It is believed that the wairua returns to these places after death, and speeches at tangihanga refer to these as the final resting place of wairua.

I kī rā ahau he tohu aua whetū. Koia nei hoki te kāpehu a ō tātou tūpuna i whakawhiti mai ai i Hawaiki (TTT 1/7/1922:3). / I have stated that those were navigational stars. they were the compass of our ancestors who migrated here from Hawaiki.

Show example

Hide example

poroporoaki

1. (verb) (-tia) to take leave of, farewell, traditional call given by women as they approach the marae.

I te pō, ka tū a Kihi rātau ko tōna whānau ki te poroporoaki ki a mātau, ki ngā mea e hoki ana ki te tiki mai i ā rātau wāhine, me ō rātou hūnuku katoa (TTT 1/3/1930:2003). / That night Kihi and his family stood to farewell us, the ones returning to fetch their wives and all their family dependants.

Show example

Hide example


2. (noun) eulogy, panegyric, leave taking - eulogies, or farewell speeches to the dead, contain beautiful language and express people’s grief. Metaphoric language and allusions to the tribal connections, geographic places of significance, traditional places that the spirits of the dead are believed to travel to, and the status and work of the deceased, are a feature of poroporoaki. For these reasons they are difficult to translate so that the full meaning is expressed in English. Poroporoaki address the person as though alive, as the belief is that the wairua (spirit) remains with the body for a time before burial.

(Te Kōhure Textbook (Ed. 2): 205-208;)

He kōrero anō āna i tukua ki 'Te Ao Hou', ko tētahi i te tau 1959 he poroporoaki ki te ariki nei o Tūhoe, ki a Takurua Tamarau, ka mate nei ia (TTR 1998:147). / Another of his contributions to the magazine 'Te Ao Hou', was an eloquent tribute in 1959 to the Tūhoe paramount chief, Takurua Tamarau, following his death.

Show example

Hide example

poke

1. (noun) types of karakia to affect a person's wairua.

Te Kākano 3rd Edition

New edition of the leading Māori-language textbook out now.

More info

The App

Te Aka Māori Dictionary is also available as an iOS and Android app. Download below.

iOS Android

The Book

Te Aka Māori-English, English-Māori Dictionary and Index by John C Moorfield comprises a selection of modern and everyday language that will be extremely useful for learners of the Māori language.

More info

He Pātaka Kupu

Te kai a te rangatira

He Pātaka Kupu is a monolingual Māori language dictionary, and was designed using its own culturally authentic terms.

Visit website

00:00