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Loan words

Historical loan words

kokoti

1. (verb) (-a) to interrupt, intercept, cut in two, divide. Usually kotia in the passive form.

He maroro kokoti ihu waka (W 1971:184). / A flying fish that cuts across the canoe prow (a whakataukī for someone who crossed the path of a war party and was killed to ward off bad luck).

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2. (verb) (-a) to cut short.

Kokoti ai ngā wāhine o Te Makororo i ō rātou makawe koromengemenge kia poto rawa, moremore ana tēnā! (TWMNT 10/5/1874:109). / The Makololo women cut their curly hair very short, they looked bald!

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3. (noun) ambush, ambuscade, intercepting party.

I whakamaharatia atu e Pōmare te herenga matatika kāore anō kia ea i te whānau o Mahuta, e pā ana ki te whakatūpatotanga a Te Rauparaha i a Pōtatau Te Wherowhero i tētehi wā i mua, arā, e tāria ana tērā e tētehi kokoti, ā, nā taua whakatūpatotanga i ora ai a Pōtatau (TTR 1996:143). / Pōmare reminded Mahuta of a debt of honour that his family owed concerning the warning Te Rauparaha once gave Pōtatau Te Wherowhero of an ambush and that warning saved Pōtatau's life.

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