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Proverbs

Loan words

Historical loan words

kāwatawata

1. (verb) to be gentle.

Kāwatawata mārire te putanga mai o te hau (W 1971:110). / The breeze blows gently.

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2. (noun) yearning, longing, hankering.

Ka tae te kāwatawata aroha i a au ki taku tamaiti (W 1971:110). / The longing for my child overcame me.

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Synonyms: korotū, maingo, minamina, tōmina, kuatau, pūkōnohinohi, mina, mōhukihuki, manako, matenui, hihiri, koroingo


3. (noun) breeze.

I tētahi pō ka titiro ia ki te pō tū i waho i te Ōmanga e taruru ana, ki Te Ika-o-te-rangi me Ngā Pātari, ki te tae pukohu tataiore e taipua ana i ngā maunga. Ka kī ia “He marino tua-ukiuki āpōpō, he kāwatawata tātā moana te kōangiangi; ka haere au ki te moana.” (JPS 1911:17). / One night he looked at the clouds beyond the crayfish beds, resting close and compact, at the Milky Way and the Magellan Clouds, at the flakes of mist running together and settling in masses on the mountains. He said, “It will be settled and calm tomorrow, the wind will be a light sea-breeze ; I shall put to sea.”

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