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Idioms

Phrases

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Loan words

Historical loan words

pāpapa

1. (noun) eggshell, husk, chaff, bran.

(Te Māhuri Study Guide (Ed. 1): 27;)

He uru hua rākau rahi anō tō rāua, ā, e 60 eka te rahi o te whenua whakatipu ōti, whakatipu pāri, hai pāpapa whāngai i ngā hōiho (TTR 1998:159). / They had a large orchard and 60 acres growing oats and barley to make chaff to feed the horses.

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2. (noun) squash, kamokamo - a variety of vegetable marrow. This word seems to be peculiar to the northern Ngāti Kahungunu region.

He pēnā anō ngā tōhuka, ngā kānga, ngā pāpapa, ngā merengi, ngā kākāriki, ngā taro me ngā rīwai (HP 1991:14). / The sugar cane, maize, kamokamo, melons, rock melons, taro and potatoes were exactly the same.

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3. (noun) beetle - used as a general term for beetles.

E whā ngā momo pāpapa i mau i a mātau (Ng 1995:30). / We caught four kinds of beetles.

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4. (noun) common tiger beetle, Cicindela tuberculata, Neocicindela tuberculata - an endemic tiger beetle to Aotearoa/New Zealand. Adults are ground predators and larvae may live for several years in a hole in the ground, and grab and eat passing insects. Adults are commonly seen on clay banks in summer, running around and making short flights as they hunt other insects.

Synonyms: muremure, kūī, moeone


5. (noun) cockroach, stinkroach, black cockroach, Platyzosteria novaeseelandiae - found in the North Island and the northern South Island, it makes a strong smell when disturbed. Lives under the bark of trees and in rotting logs.

See also kēkerengū

Synonyms: kēkerengū, kēkereū


6. (noun) slater, pill bug, sow bug, woodlice - terrestrial Isopoda which vary slightly in appearance, but most are conspicuous and easily recognised by their elliptical, flattened segmented bodies, and seven pairs of legs. Colour is usually in the shades of grey, from dark to light, often mottled with green and yellow. Aotearoa/New Zealand slaters range in size from several millimetres to more than 2 cm in length. Slaters are mainly scavengers, feeding on a variety of decaying vegetation, tree bark, rotting wood, etc.


7. (noun) gumdiggers' soap, golden Tainui, kūmarahou, Pomaderris kumeraho - a native shrub with alternating, blue-green leaves on top and undersides pale with protruding veins. Flowers are creamy yellow in large, fluffy clusters. The whole plant is covered in a soft mat of hair. Found north of Bay of Plenty and Kāwhia.

See also kūmarahou

Synonyms: kūmara rau nui, kūmarahou


8. (noun) koropuka, bush snowberry, fool's beech, Gaultheria antipoda - native bushy shrub bearing rounded small leathery toothed leaves on hairy twigs. Hairs on twigs black mixed with shorter paler hairs. Flowers white, bell-shaped, solitary at base of leaf. Leaves alternating on stem, 7-10mm long by 6-10mm wide, sometimes much smaller at tip of twig, Fruit red or white.

See also koropuka

Synonyms: koropuka, takapo, tāwiniwini, taupuku

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