kei hea mai
1. it was outstanding, terrific, that's wonderful, choice - an eastern dialect idiom exclaiming about the outstanding quality of something or someone, or his/her work. Sometimes it is used to compliment the thought, rather than the actual contribution. In this idiom, atu can replace mai.
See also kei whea mai
hea
1. (location) where? what place? - an interrogative which functions like a locative or location word and is used after prepositions, i.e. kei hea? where?; ko hea? where is?; ki hea? where to?; i hea? where were? from where?; nō hea? where from?; o hea? of what place?; mā hea? via where? by what means?.
(Te Kākano Textbook (Ed. 2): 3, 12, 29, 47-48; Te Pihinga Textbook (Ed. 2): 64-65, 66;)
3. (location) and other places - when repeated after a particular particle following named places preceded by the same particle.
Ko te wa tēnei i putaputa ai ngā rangatira o ia iwi, o ia iwi ki ngā wāhi katoa haere ai, puta atu ki Ākarana, ki Pōneke, ki hea, ki hea (TWMNT 19/5/1874:142). / This was the time when the chiefs of the various tribes began to travel about visiting Auckland, Wellington, and other places.
4. (location) any place, everywhere.
Ko ēnei kupu katoa i runga ake nei, i te nama 39 tae ki te 48, mō ngā taonga, e tau ana ki ngā taonga katoa e tae ana ki ngā ringaringa o ngā āpiha o te rerewē i ngā whare takotoranga taonga, tari rānei, i ngā rerewē katoa i hea, i hea rānei (TWMNT 28/12/1875:322). / All these conditions above, from number 39 to 48, apply to all parcels and goods arriving into the hands of the officers of the railway at the warehouses and offices wherever situated.
whea
1. (location) where? - variation of hea used especially by western dialects. An interrogative which functions like a locative or location word and is used after prepositions, i.e. kei whea? where?; ko whea? where is?; ki whea? where to?; i whea? where were? from where?; nō whea? where from?; o whea? of what place?; mā whea? via where? by what means?.
(Te Kākano Textbook (Ed. 2): 3, 12, 29, 47-48; Te Pihinga Textbook (Ed. 2): 64-65, 66;)
See also hea
3. (location) and other places - when repeated after a particular particle following named places preceded by the same particle.
I muri mai o ngā whawhai ki te Pākehā, ka haere tonu ēnei mahi whakatupu kai i ētahi rohe, arā, i te Rohe Pōtae, i Parihaka, i Te Tai Rāwhiti, i hea, i hea (Wh3 2003:104). / After the wars with the Pākehā, these activities of growing crops continued in some regions, namely in the King Country, at Parihaka, on the East Coast and some other places.
4. (location) any place, everywhere.
Whakarongo mai koutou katoa, ahakoa ū tō tātou waka ki whea, ki whea, o tēnei tuawhenua, ka hoki mai ahau, ko te tihi o te maunga rā taku kāinga (JPS 1893:222). / Listen all of you, whatever part of this mainland our canoe may arrives at, I shall return here, the summit of that mountain shall be my home.
