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Loan words

Historical loan words

atua

1. (noun) ancestor with continuing influence, god, demon, supernatural being, deity, ghost, object of superstitious regard, strange being - although often translated as 'god' and now also used for the Christian God, this is a misconception of the real meaning. Many Māori trace their ancestry from atua in their whakapapa and they are regarded as ancestors with influence over particular domains. These atua also were a way of rationalising and perceiving the world. Normally invisible, atua may have visible representations.

Ko te atua o te pakanga, ko Tū-mata-uenga. He maha ōna ingoa: Tū-kā-riri, Tū-te-ngaehe, Tū-mata-uenga, Tū-tawake, Tū-whakamoana-ariki, Tū-kai-taua, Tū-kai-tangata (M 2006:122). / The atua of war, Tū-mata-uenga. He has several names: Tū-kā-riri (Tū-the angry-one), Tū-te-ngaehe (Tū-who-tears-apart), Tū-mata-uenga (Tū-who-incites), Tū-tawake (Tū-who-hastens), Tū-whakamoana-ariki (Tū-who-enriches-the-sea), Tū-kai-taua (Tū-who-destroys-war-parties), Tū-kai-tangata (Tū-who-destroys-mankind) (M 2006:123).

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2. (noun) God.

E tino maumahara ana au ki taua pō e inoi ana tō mātau koroua ki Te Atua kia tohungia mātau (HP 1991:14). / I well remember that night when our grandfather was praying to God that we be spared.

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tipuna tāne

1. (noun) male ancestor, grandfather, great grandfather, forefather.

Ko ngā kāinga noho o ōna mātua me tōna tipuna tāne, me Muretū, ko Te Uretā, ko Waka-ā-pāua, me Wharehanga (TTR 1990:24). / Her parents and her grandfather, Muretū, lived at Te Uretā, Waka-ā-pāua and Wharehanga.

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See also tupuna tāne, tīpuna tāne

Synonyms: tupuna tāne

tupuna tāne

1. (noun) male ancestor, grandfather, great grandfather, forefather.

Ko te tupuna tāne o Peka nō Tahiti, ko tōna tupuna wahine nō Hawai‘i (TP 9/1907:4). / Baker's grandfather was from Tahiti and his grandmother was from Hawai‘i.

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See also tūpuna tāne

Synonyms: tipuna tāne

tipuna wahine

1. (noun) female ancestor, grandmother, great grandmother.

Otirā i mau ki a ia te wehi, te tapu, o tōna tipuna wahine o Hinematioro (M 2004:72). / But it is recognised that the prestige and tapu of his grandmother, Hinematioro, descended to and upon him.

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tupuna wahine

1. (noun) female ancestor, grandmother, great grandmother.

Ko te tupuna tāne o Peka nō Tahiti, ko tōna tupuna wahine nō Hawai‘i (TP 9/1907:4). / Baker's grandfather was from Tahiti and his grandmother was from Hawai‘i.
He uri anō hoki ia nō te tupuna wahine, nō Waimirirangi (TTR 1990:69) / She was a descendant of the female ancestor, Waimirirangi.

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tūpuna wahine

1. (noun) female ancestors, grandmothers, great grandmothers – the western dialect form of tīpuna wahine and plural form of tupuna wahine.

Kua ngaro ō koutou tūpuna tāne, tūpuna wahine (TMP 25/7/1893:3). / Our male and female ancestors are gone.

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Muri-ranga-whenua

1. (personal name) an ancestor of Māui, responsible for giving him her jawbone and all the powers it possessed. He used the jawbone to beat the sun to make him go slower, and as a hook to fish up the North Island.

(Te Māhuri Study Guide (Ed. 1): 63, 73;)

Ka noho i tōna matua, ka kite i ngā tāngata e haere ana ki te kawe kai mā tōna tupuna, mā Muri-ranga-whenua, ka ui atu, "Mā wai ngā kai e kawea nā e koutou?" (NM 1928:12). / When he sat with his father he saw people going to take food for his ancestor, Muri-ranga-whenua, and he asked, "Who is that food that you are carrying for?"

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tīpuna

1. (noun) ancestors, grandparents - plural form of tipuna and the eastern dialect variation of tūpuna.

Nā Mahuta te kupu ki te taina, mō te kākahu kanukanu o ō rāua tīpuna. Māku e tāpiri atu tēnei, kāore he mate, e Waikato, ki te kānihitia e koe ngā pakaru o te kākahu nā, hei whāriki mōu ā kō ake nei (TAH 18:19). / Mahuta suggestion to his younger brother concerning their ancestors' tattered cloak. I will add this, no misfortune will befall you, Waikato, if you patch up the torn cloak, as a mat for you in the future.

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See also tipuna wahine, tipuna, tūpuna

tūpuna tāne

1. (noun) grandfathers, grand-uncles, great-uncles, male ancestors - the western dialect form of tīpuna tāne and plural form of tupuna tāne.

He epeepe tonu nei rāua, ā, i te wā e kōhungahunga tonu ana i puta ai te whakahau a wō rāua tūpuna tāne rā, kia taumautia rāua i runga anō i te tikanga o te tomo (TTR 2000:68-69). / They were distant cousins and when they were still quite young their grandfathers decreed that they be betrothed under the customary practice of betrothal.

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See also tīpuna tāne

Synonyms: tīpuna tāne

tīpuna tāne

1. (noun) grandfathers, grand-uncles, great-uncles, male ancestors - the eastern dialect form of tūpuna tāne and plural form of tipuna tāne.

Kātahi anō ka tuku te wahine ariki, te tāne ariki me te tamaiti ariki ki raro o te paparoa, ka whakarewaia mai te ua o ngā kahu o te paparoa, ka mauria e ngā mātua tāne ranei, e ngā tīpuna tāne rānei, ka tīmata te hoki ki te kāinga (JPS 1929:266). / The highborn woman, husband and child now moved under the paparoa, the garments were lifted by the collars and carried away by the male parents or male grandparents, and the return to the village commenced.

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Synonyms: tūpuna tāne

tipuna

1. (noun) ancestor, grandparent, grandfather, grandmother - singular form of tīpuna and the eastern dialect variation of tupuna.

E kore au e kōrero he toa tōku tipuna ki te riri (TTT 1/9/1931:31). / I would never say that my ancestor was brave in battle.

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See also tupuna tāne, tipuna wahine

whāwhārua

1. (adjective) be concave.


2. (noun) depression, valley, hollow.

Ko Te Heuheu i Tongariro te matāpuna, kei reira pea te toka i patukia e te taniwha i pipī mai ai ko Waikato. Ka ngaki mai i waenganui o Taupō, ka tītaha mai i a Te Arawa, kātahi ka kōpikopiko, ka whati, ka mārō, ka whakawiri, ka miri i te whenua, i te rākau me te kohikohi haere i ngā awa ririki, i ngā awa nunui i ngā rukenga o ngā repo. Tae rawa ake ki Ngāruawāhia ka tomo mai a Waipa, nā reira nei i whakahiato mai ngā wairere o ngā whāwhārua o Maniapoto (TAH 17:16). / Te Heuheu at Tongariro has the source, where the taniwha smote a rock and out of it gushed forth the Waikato river to make for itself a path through Lake Taupō. Eschewing Te Arawa territory, it gathers in the tributaries until at Ngāruawāhia it is joined by the Waipā, which in its turn has gathered in all the tributaries of the valleys of Maniapoto.

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3. (noun) mother, female ancestor.

Haere mai koe kia moemoe tahi i roto i tōu whāwhārua (NM 1928:7). / You should come and sleep together with your mother.

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Synonyms: kōkara, kowhaea, hākuikui, māmā, whaea, whaene, hākui, kōkā, ūkaipō


4. (noun) genealogy tracing descent from a female ancestor.

Ko te whāwhārua e kōrero ana mō te tipuna wahine, whakapapa mai koe i te tipuna wahine. Ka whakaheke haere mai koe i te tipuna wahine, he whāwhārua te ingoa o tērā whakapapa (Milroy 2015). / The whāwhārua genealogy is talking about the female ancestor, where you trace descent from the female ancestor. You descend from the female ancestor, and the name of that type of whakapapa is whāwhārua.

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tararere

1. (verb) to trace a single line of descent from an ancestor without showing marriages.

Me tīmata noa i a Porourangi, ina hoki ōna kupu o mua, ko Hikurangi te maunga, ko Waiapu te wai, ko Ngāti Porou te iwi. He uri nō Porourangi. Me tararere noa kia mama ai (JPS 1950:286). / Let me begin with Porourangi because this is a well-known saying: Hikurangi is the mountain, Waiapu the river, Ngāti Porou the tribe. He is a descendant of Porourangi. Let me just trace the genealogy in a single line so that it is simplified.

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tūpuna

1. (noun) ancestors, grandparents - western dialect variation of tīpuna.

Kua mate noa atu ō mātou tūpuna. / Our grandparents died long ago.

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See also tupuna wahine

tupuna

1. (noun) ancestor, grandparent - western dialect variation of tipuna.

He uri whakaheke ia nō Rāhiri, he tino tupuna nō ngā iwi katoa o Te Tai Tokerau (TTR 1996:41). / He was a direct descendant of Rāhiri, an important ancestor of all Tai Tokerau tribes.

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See also tupuna tāne, tupuna wahine, tipuna

kauwheke

1. (noun) ancestor, forebear, elder.

E kite ana ahau ko koe te tohunga kōkōrangi o 'Te Toa Takitini', kei a koe te wānanga o te tātai arorangi, te oha a ngā kauwheke o raurangi (TTT 1/6/1922:13). / I can see that you are the astronomer of 'Te Toa Takitini' newspaper and you have the knowledge of the heavens, the gift of the ancestors of another time.

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Tainui

1. (personal noun) crew of this canoe from Hawaiki are claimed as ancestors by tribes of the Waikato, King Country and Tauranga areas.

(Te Māhuri Study Guide (Ed. 1): 30;)

Ko ngā kaumoana o Tainui waka te tuatahi ki te hanga i tētehi tūāhu ki reira (TTR 1996:232). / The crew of the Tainui canoe were the first to build a sacred place for rituals there.

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2. (personal noun) term used for the tribes whose ancestors came on the Tainui canoe and whose territory includes the Waikato, Hauraki and King Country areas.

I te Maehe o 1929, he wāhi nui tō Āpirana Ngata i te kawanga o Māhinārangi, te whare nui o Tainui, i Tūrangawaewae marae i Ngāruawāhia (TTR 1996:114). / In March 1929 Āpirana Ngata played an important part in the opening of Māhinārangi, the Tainui meeting house, at Tūrangawaewae marae in Ngāruawāhia.

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3. (location) a term for the territory of the tribes descended from the crew of the Tainui canoe.

Nā Te Puea i whakapakari ngā tūhonohono paihere tangata o te Kīngitanga ki waho o te rohe o Tainui (TTR 1996:50). / Te Puea strengthened Kingitanga networks beyond Tainui territory.

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kahika

1. (noun) white pine, Dacrycarpus dacrydioides - a tall coniferous tree of mainly swampy ground, the leaves are scale-like and soft to touch.

He nui anō ngā rākau nunui i taua wā, he tōtara, he rimu, he kahika, he mataī, he miro, he kauri me ngā rākau pakupaku, he patatē, he hinahina he kaikōmako te paunga o te ngahere i te ahi (HTK 20/1/1894:5). / There were many giant trees at that time, tōtara, rimu, kahikatea, mataī, miro and kauri, with the small trees, patatē, whiteywood and kaikōmako, which were all destroyed in the fire.

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See also kahikatea


2. (noun) ancestor.

Ka mene ngā mōhio o ia waka, o ia waka, ka whiriwhiri ai i tētahi o koutou hei karaka tuhituhi, ā ka oti tērā, hei reira ka kauhau ai koutou i ngā kōrero mai rā anō i a Pō tuatahi, ā tae noa ki te tuatangata, ā ki ngā atua, ā ki ngā mea katoa i mōhiotia e ngā kahika, e ngā tūpuna (TW 10/8/1878:395). / The knowledgeable people of each canoe area should gather and select one of you to act as scribe, and when that's done that you talk over all the knowledge of the past, even from the time of the first Pō right until there was man and the atua, and everything that was known by the ancestors.

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3. (noun) chief, leader.

I te tau 1945, ka whakataetae a Kāponga Erueti hei takawaenga mō te Rōpū Reipa ki a Matiu Rātana mō te rohe pōti Māori o Te Tai Hauāuru, engari he kahika tū kotahi a Kāponga (TTR 1998:55). / In 1945 Kāponga Erueti stood against Matiu Rātana for Western Māori as an independent Labour candidate, but that was the only time Kāponga stood as a leader.

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Synonyms: manu taupua, kaitaki, kaitātaki, kaiārahi, kākākura, pouwhenua, kaiwhakataki, wheao, tumuaki, tumu whakarae, kaiarataki, kaikākāriki, ngārahu, ngārahu, tētēkura, uru, kaihautū, kaitakitaki, kaingārahu, manukura, kaiwhakanekeneke, tātāriki, tātāriki, amokapua, amokapua, amokura, amokura, ariki, ariki, ihorei, tātarariki, poutoko, poutoko, whakataka, whakataka, amorangi, amorangi, hautū, hautū

whātua

1. (noun) ancestor.

I te wā o ngā whātua kāore he rorohiko, he pouaka whakaata rānei. / In the days of the ancestors, there were no computers or television sets.

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apa

1. (noun) spirit of an ancestor, spiritual beings - includes whatukura (male spiritual beings) and māreikura (female spiritual beings).

I whakatapua a runga o taua maunga hai wāhi tapu, hai wāhi karakiatanga i ngā tino karakia tapu ki a Io-matua-te-kore me ngā whatukura, me ngā māreikura, me ngā uruao, me ngā rāhuikura o ngā rangi tūhāhā, me ērā atu apa atua katoa o aua rangi (JPS 1927:350). / The summit of that mountain was placed under tapu as a sacred place for the performing of tapu rites to Io-matua-te-kore and the whatukura (male supernatural beings), mareikura (female supernatural beings), uruao and rāhuikura of the uppermost heavens, and other spirits of the ancestors of those heavens.

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