Tahitian language
Encyclopedia
Tahitian is an indigenous language spoken mainly in the Society Islands
in French Polynesia
. It is an Eastern Polynesian language
closely related to the other indigenous languages spoken in French Polynesia: Marquesan
, Tuamotuan
, Mangarevan
, and Austral Islands
languages. It is also related to the Rarotongan, New Zealand Māori
, and Hawaiian language
s.
Tahitian was first transcribed from the oral spoken language into writing by missionaries of the London Missionary Society
in the early 19th century.
In French Polynesia, it is the most prominent of the indigenous Polynesian languages (reo mā’ohi) which also include;
ans first arrived in Tahiti at the end of the 18th century, there was no writing system and Tahitian was only a spoken language. In 1797, Protestant missionaries arrived in Tahiti on a British ship called the Duff, captained by James Wilson. Among the missionaries was Henry Nott
(1774–1844) who learned the Tahitian language and worked with Pomare II
, a Tahitian king, to translate the English Bible
into Tahitian. A system of 5 vowels and 9 consonants was adopted for the Tahitian Bible which would become the key text by which many Polynesians would learn to read and write.
s, as further evidence of its linguistic heritage: five vowels and nine consonants, not counting the lengthened vowels and diphthong
s.
The glottal stop
or ’eta is a genuine consonant. (People unfamiliar with Tahitian might mistake it for a punctuation mark.) This is typical of Polynesian languages
(compare to the Hawai'ian okina
and others). However, in Tahitian the glottal stops are seldom written in practice, and if they are, often as a straight apostrophe
' , instead of the curly apostrophe. Alphabetical word ordering in dictionaries ignores the existence of glottals. Admittedly, the Tahitian glottal is normally weak, except in a few words like i’a (fish), and easily missed by the untrained ear of the non-native speaker.
Tahitian makes a phonemic distinction between long and short vowels; long vowels are marked with macron
or tārava.
For example, pāto, meaning "to pick, to pluck" and pato, "to break out", are distinguished solely by their vowel length
. However, macrons are seldom written.
Finally there is a toro ’a’ï, a trema
put on the i, but only used in ïa when used as a reflexive pronoun
. It does not indicate a different pronunciation.
Although the use of ’eta and tārava is equal to the usage of such symbols in other Polynesian languages, it is promoted by l'Académie Tahitienne and adopted by the territorial government. There are at least a dozen other ways of applying accents. Some methods are historical and no longer used. This can make usage unclear. See list. At this moment l'Académie Tahitienne seems to have not made a final decision yet whether the `eta should appear as a small normal curly comma (’) or a small inverted curly comma (‘). Compare 'okina.
Further, Tahitian syllables are entirely open, as is usual in Polynesian languages. In its morphology
, Tahitian relies on the use of "helper words" (such as prepositions, article
s, and particle
s) to encode grammatical relationships, rather than on inflection, as would be typical of European languages. It is practically an isolating language
, except when it comes to the personal pronoun
s, which have separate forms for singular
, plural
and dual numbers.
, and distinguishes singular
, dual
, and plural
.
is VSO (verb–subject–object), which is typical of Polynesian languages. Some examples of word order from are:
and means the. In conversation it is also used as an indefinite article for a or an.
For example;
The plural of the definite article te is te mau.
For example;
Also, te may also be used to indicate a plural;
For example;
For example;
For example;
For example;
are important parts of Tahitian grammar, and are indicated with markers preceding and/or following the invariant verb. Important examples are:
). In order to avoid offense, all words resembling such a name were suppressed and replaced by another term of related meaning until the personage died. If, however, the leader should happen to live to a very great age this temporary substitution could become permanent.
In the rest of Polynesia tū means to stand, but in Tahitian it became ti’a, because the word was included in the name of king Tū-nui-’ē’a-i-te-atua
. Likewise fetū (star) has become in Tahiti feti’a and aratū (pillar) became arati’a. Although nui (big) still occurs in some compounds, like Tahiti-nui, the usual word is rahi (which is a common word in Polynesian languages
for 'large'). The term ’ē’a fell in disuse, replaced by purūmu or porōmu. Nowadays ’ē’a means 'path' while purūmu means 'road'.
Tū also had a nickname, Pō-mare (literally means 'night coughing'), under which his dynasty has become best known. By consequence pō (night) became ru`i (nowadays only used in the Bible
, pō having become the word commonly in use once again), but mare (literally cough) has irreversibly been replaced by hota.
Other examples include;
Some of the old words are still used on the Leewards
.
Society Islands
The Society Islands are a group of islands in the South Pacific Ocean. They are politically part of French Polynesia. The archipelago is generally believed to have been named by Captain James Cook in honor of the Royal Society, the sponsor of the first British scientific survey of the islands;...
in French Polynesia
French Polynesia
French Polynesia is an overseas country of the French Republic . It is made up of several groups of Polynesian islands, the most famous island being Tahiti in the Society Islands group, which is also the most populous island and the seat of the capital of the territory...
. It is an Eastern Polynesian language
Eastern Polynesian languages
The dozen Eastern Polynesian languages are found on Pacific Islands from Hawaii in the north, to New Zealand in the southwest, to Easter Island in the southeast...
closely related to the other indigenous languages spoken in French Polynesia: Marquesan
Marquesan language
Marquesan is a collection of East-Central Polynesian dialects, of the Marquesic group, spoken in the Marquesas Islands of French Polynesia. They are usually classified into two groups, North Marquesan and South Marquesan, roughly along geographic lines....
, Tuamotuan
Tuamotuan language
The Tuamotuan language or Paumotuan is a Tahitic language spoken by about 6700 people in the Tuamotu Islands with an additional 2000 speakers in Tahiti...
, Mangarevan
Mangareva language
Mangareva, also known as the Mangarevan language, is a Polynesian language spoken in the Gambier Islands of French Polynesia by about 1600 people on the islands of Gambier and Mangareva. Speakers also have some bilingualism in Tahitian, in which there is a 50-68% lexical similarity...
, and Austral Islands
Austral Islands
The Austral Islands are the southernmost group of islands in French Polynesia, an overseas collectivity of France in the South Pacific. Geographically, they consist of two separate archipelagos, namely in the northwest the Tubuai Islands consisting of the Îles Maria, Rimatara, Rurutu, Tubuai...
languages. It is also related to the Rarotongan, New Zealand Māori
Maori language
Māori or te reo Māori , commonly te reo , is the language of the indigenous population of New Zealand, the Māori. It has the status of an official language in New Zealand...
, and Hawaiian language
Hawaiian language
The Hawaiian language is a Polynesian language that takes its name from Hawaii, the largest island in the tropical North Pacific archipelago where it developed. Hawaiian, along with English, is an official language of the state of Hawaii...
s.
Tahitian was first transcribed from the oral spoken language into writing by missionaries of the London Missionary Society
London Missionary Society
The London Missionary Society was a non-denominational missionary society formed in England in 1795 by evangelical Anglicans and Nonconformists, largely Congregationalist in outlook, with missions in the islands of the South Pacific and Africa...
in the early 19th century.
In French Polynesia, it is the most prominent of the indigenous Polynesian languages (reo mā’ohi) which also include;
- Pa'umotuTuamotuan languageThe Tuamotuan language or Paumotuan is a Tahitic language spoken by about 6700 people in the Tuamotu Islands with an additional 2000 speakers in Tahiti...
(reo Pa'umotu), includes 7 dialects, spoken in the Tuamotu IslandsTuamotusThe Tuamotus or the Tuamotu Archipelago are a chain of islands and atolls in French Polynesia. They form the largest chain of atolls in the world, spanning an area of the Pacific Ocean roughly the size of Western Europe... - MarquesanMarquesan languageMarquesan is a collection of East-Central Polynesian dialects, of the Marquesic group, spoken in the Marquesas Islands of French Polynesia. They are usually classified into two groups, North Marquesan and South Marquesan, roughly along geographic lines....
, spoken in the Marquesas IslandsMarquesas IslandsThe Marquesas Islands enana and Te Fenua `Enata , both meaning "The Land of Men") are a group of volcanic islands in French Polynesia, an overseas collectivity of France in the southern Pacific Ocean. The Marquesas are located at 9° 00S, 139° 30W...
, with two sub-divisions, North Marquesan (le'eo Enata) and South Marquesan (le'eo Enata) - AustralAustral languageAustral is a Polynesian language spoken by about 8000 people on the Austral Islands of French Polynesia. It is being supplanted by Tahitian....
, spoken by about 8,000 people in the Austral IslandsAustral IslandsThe Austral Islands are the southernmost group of islands in French Polynesia, an overseas collectivity of France in the South Pacific. Geographically, they consist of two separate archipelagos, namely in the northwest the Tubuai Islands consisting of the Îles Maria, Rimatara, Rurutu, Tubuai... - MangarevaMangareva languageMangareva, also known as the Mangarevan language, is a Polynesian language spoken in the Gambier Islands of French Polynesia by about 1600 people on the islands of Gambier and Mangareva. Speakers also have some bilingualism in Tahitian, in which there is a 50-68% lexical similarity...
, spoken by about 1,600 people in the Gambier IslandsGambier IslandsThere was a time when the Gambiers hosted a population of several thousand people and traded with other island groups including the Marquesas, the Society Islands and Pitcairn Islands...
Early writing
When EuropeEurope
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
ans first arrived in Tahiti at the end of the 18th century, there was no writing system and Tahitian was only a spoken language. In 1797, Protestant missionaries arrived in Tahiti on a British ship called the Duff, captained by James Wilson. Among the missionaries was Henry Nott
Henry Nott
Henry Nott was a British Protestant Christian missionary to Tahiti, Society Islands, Polynesia.-Life:He was one of the first missionaries sent out by the London Missionary Society, arriving in Tahiti aboard the mission ship “Duff” in 1797. He had been a bricklayer by trade and the mission did not...
(1774–1844) who learned the Tahitian language and worked with Pomare II
Pomare II
Pōmare II, King of Tahiti , fully Tu Tunuieaiteatua Pōmare II or in modern orthography Tū Tū-nui-ēa-i-te-atua Pōmare II , was the second king of Tahiti between 1782 and 1821. He was installed by his father Pōmare I at Tarahoi, February 13, 1791...
, a Tahitian king, to translate the English Bible
Bible
The Bible refers to any one of the collections of the primary religious texts of Judaism and Christianity. There is no common version of the Bible, as the individual books , their contents and their order vary among denominations...
into Tahitian. A system of 5 vowels and 9 consonants was adopted for the Tahitian Bible which would become the key text by which many Polynesians would learn to read and write.
Alphabet
Tahitian features a very small number of phonemePhoneme
In a language or dialect, a phoneme is the smallest segmental unit of sound employed to form meaningful contrasts between utterances....
s, as further evidence of its linguistic heritage: five vowels and nine consonants, not counting the lengthened vowels and diphthong
Diphthong
A diphthong , also known as a gliding vowel, refers to two adjacent vowel sounds occurring within the same syllable. Technically, a diphthong is a vowel with two different targets: That is, the tongue moves during the pronunciation of the vowel...
s.
| letter | name | pronunciation | notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| IPA International Phonetic Alphabet The International Phonetic Alphabet "The acronym 'IPA' strictly refers [...] to the 'International Phonetic Association'. But it is now such a common practice to use the acronym also to refer to the alphabet itself that resistance seems pedantic... |
English approximation |
|||
| a | ’ā | /a/, /ɑː/ | a: butter, ā: father | |
| e | ’ē | /e/, /eː/ | e: late, ē: same but longer | |
| f | fā | /f/ | friend | becomes bilabial [ɸ] after o and u |
| h | hē | /h/ | house | becomes [ʃ] (as in English shoe) after i and before o or u |
| i | ’ī | /i/, /iː/ | as in machine | may become diphthong ai in some words like rahi |
| m | mō | /m/ | mouse | |
| n | nū | /n/ | nap | |
| o | ’ō | /ɔ/, /oː/ | o: nought, ō: go | |
| p | pī | /p/ | sponge (not aspirated) | |
| r | rō | /r/ | - | alveolar trill Alveolar trill The alveolar trill is a type of consonantal sound, used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents dental, alveolar, and postalveolar trills is , and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is r. It is commonly called the rolled R, rolling R, or trilled R... |
| t | tī | /t/ | stand (not aspirated) | |
| u | ’ū | /u/, /uː/ | u: foot, ū: moo | strong lip rounding |
| v | vī | /v/ | vine | becomes bilabial ([β]) after o and u |
| ’ | ’eta | /ʔ/ | uh-oh | glottal stop Glottal stop The glottal stop, or more fully, the voiceless glottal plosive, is a type of consonantal sound used in many spoken languages. In English, the feature is represented, for example, by the hyphen in uh-oh! and by the apostrophe or [[ʻokina]] in Hawaii among those using a preservative pronunciation of... beginning each syllable |
The glottal stop
Glottal stop
The glottal stop, or more fully, the voiceless glottal plosive, is a type of consonantal sound used in many spoken languages. In English, the feature is represented, for example, by the hyphen in uh-oh! and by the apostrophe or [[ʻokina]] in Hawaii among those using a preservative pronunciation of...
or ’eta is a genuine consonant. (People unfamiliar with Tahitian might mistake it for a punctuation mark.) This is typical of Polynesian languages
Polynesian languages
The Polynesian languages are a language family spoken in the region known as Polynesia. They are classified as part of the Austronesian family, belonging to the Oceanic branch of that family. They fall into two branches: Tongic and Nuclear Polynesian. Polynesians share many cultural traits...
(compare to the Hawai'ian okina
Okina
The okina, also called by several other names , is a unicameral consonant letter used within the Latin script to mark the phonetic glottal stop, as it is used in many Polynesian languages.- Geographic names in the United States :...
and others). However, in Tahitian the glottal stops are seldom written in practice, and if they are, often as a straight apostrophe
Apostrophe
The apostrophe is a punctuation mark, and sometimes a diacritic mark, in languages that use the Latin alphabet or certain other alphabets...
' , instead of the curly apostrophe. Alphabetical word ordering in dictionaries ignores the existence of glottals. Admittedly, the Tahitian glottal is normally weak, except in a few words like i’a (fish), and easily missed by the untrained ear of the non-native speaker.
Tahitian makes a phonemic distinction between long and short vowels; long vowels are marked with macron
Macron
A macron, from the Greek , meaning "long", is a diacritic placed above a vowel . It was originally used to mark a long or heavy syllable in Greco-Roman metrics, but now marks a long vowel...
or tārava.
For example, pāto, meaning "to pick, to pluck" and pato, "to break out", are distinguished solely by their vowel length
Vowel length
In linguistics, vowel length is the perceived duration of a vowel sound. Often the chroneme, or the "longness", acts like a consonant, and may etymologically be one, such as in Australian English. While not distinctive in most dialects of English, vowel length is an important phonemic factor in...
. However, macrons are seldom written.
Finally there is a toro ’a’ï, a trema
Umlaut (diacritic)
The diaeresis and the umlaut are diacritics that consist of two dots placed over a letter, most commonly a vowel. When that letter is an i or a j, the diacritic replaces the tittle: ï....
put on the i, but only used in ïa when used as a reflexive pronoun
Reflexive pronoun
A reflexive pronoun is a pronoun that is preceded by the noun, adjective, adverb or pronoun to which it refers within the same clause. In generative grammar, a reflexive pronoun is an anaphor that must be bound by its antecedent...
. It does not indicate a different pronunciation.
Although the use of ’eta and tārava is equal to the usage of such symbols in other Polynesian languages, it is promoted by l'Académie Tahitienne and adopted by the territorial government. There are at least a dozen other ways of applying accents. Some methods are historical and no longer used. This can make usage unclear. See list. At this moment l'Académie Tahitienne seems to have not made a final decision yet whether the `eta should appear as a small normal curly comma (’) or a small inverted curly comma (‘). Compare 'okina.
Further, Tahitian syllables are entirely open, as is usual in Polynesian languages. In its morphology
Morphology (linguistics)
In linguistics, morphology is the identification, analysis and description, in a language, of the structure of morphemes and other linguistic units, such as words, affixes, parts of speech, intonation/stress, or implied context...
, Tahitian relies on the use of "helper words" (such as prepositions, article
Article (grammar)
An article is a word that combines with a noun to indicate the type of reference being made by the noun. Articles specify the grammatical definiteness of the noun, in some languages extending to volume or numerical scope. The articles in the English language are the and a/an, and some...
s, and particle
Grammatical particle
In grammar, a particle is a function word that does not belong to any of the inflected grammatical word classes . It is a catch-all term for a heterogeneous set of words and terms that lack a precise lexical definition...
s) to encode grammatical relationships, rather than on inflection, as would be typical of European languages. It is practically an isolating language
Isolating language
An isolating language is a type of language with a low morpheme-per-word ratio — in the extreme case of an isolating language words are composed of a single morpheme...
, except when it comes to the personal pronoun
Personal pronoun
Personal pronouns are pronouns used as substitutes for proper or common nouns. All known languages contain personal pronouns.- English personal pronouns :English in common use today has seven personal pronouns:*first-person singular...
s, which have separate forms for singular
Grammatical number
In linguistics, grammatical number is a grammatical category of nouns, pronouns, and adjective and verb agreement that expresses count distinctions ....
, plural
Plural
In linguistics, plurality or [a] plural is a concept of quantity representing a value of more-than-one. Typically applied to nouns, a plural word or marker is used to distinguish a value other than the default quantity of a noun, which is typically one...
and dual numbers.
Personal prounouns
Like many Austronesian languages, Tahitian has separate words for inclusive and exclusive weClusivity
In linguistics, clusivity is a distinction between inclusive and exclusive first-person pronouns and verbal morphology, also called inclusive "we" and exclusive "we"...
, and distinguishes singular
Grammatical number
In linguistics, grammatical number is a grammatical category of nouns, pronouns, and adjective and verb agreement that expresses count distinctions ....
, dual
Dual (grammatical number)
Dual is a grammatical number that some languages use in addition to singular and plural. When a noun or pronoun appears in dual form, it is interpreted as referring to precisely two of the entities identified by the noun or pronoun...
, and plural
Plural
In linguistics, plurality or [a] plural is a concept of quantity representing a value of more-than-one. Typically applied to nouns, a plural word or marker is used to distinguish a value other than the default quantity of a noun, which is typically one...
.
Singular
- Au – I, me; Ua 'amu au i te i'a. – I have eaten the fish.: E haere au i te farehapi'ira'a ānānahi – I will go to school tomorrow;
- 'oe : you, thou; Ua 'amu 'oe i te i'a. – You have eaten the fish; Ua fa'a'ino 'oe tō mātou pereo'o. – You broke our car. ;
- 'ōna/'oia : he, she; Ua amu 'ōna i te i'a. – He/she ate the fish. ; Eaha 'ōna i haere mai ai ? – Why is she here/why did she come here? ; Aita 'ona i 'ō nei. – He/she is not here.
Dual
- Tāua (inclusive) – we/us two ; Ua amu tāua i te i'a : We (us two) have eaten the fish.; Haere tāua. : Let's go (literally 'go us two'). ; O tō tāua hoa tē tae mai ra. : Our friend has arrived.
- Māua (exclusive) – we two ; Ua amu māua i te i'a. : We have eaten the fish. ;E ho'i māua ma Titaua i te fare. : Titaua and I are returning/going home. ; No māua tera 'are. : This is our house.
- ōrua : you two ; Ua amu 'ōrua i te i'a. : You two ate the fish. ; Haere 'ōrua : You (two) go. ; Na 'ōrua teie puta. : This book belongs to both of us.
- Rāua : them two ; Ua amu rāua i te i'a. – They (they two) have eaten the fish. ; Nō 'ea mai rāua ? – Where are you two/both? ; O rāua 'o Pā tei noho i te fare – He/she and Pa stayed home.
Plural
- Tātou (inclusive) – we ; O vai tā tātou e tīa'i nei? – Who are we expecting ? ; E'ore tā tātou amura'a toe. – We have more food.
- Mātou (exclusive) – we, them and me ; O mātou ma Herenui i haere mai ai. – We came with Herenui; Ua 'ite mai 'oe ia mātou – You saw us/you have seen us.
- outou – you (plural) ; A haere atu 'outou, e pe'e atu vau. – You (all) go, I am coming. ; O 'outou 'o vai mā i haere ai i te tautai ? – Who went fishing with you (all)?
- Rātou – them; Ua pe'ape'a rātou 'o Teina. – They have quarelled with Teina. ; Nō rātou te pupu pūai. – They have the strongest team.
Word order
Typologically, Tahitian word orderWord order
In linguistics, word order typology refers to the study of the order of the syntactic constituents of a language, and how different languages can employ different orders. Correlations between orders found in different syntactic subdomains are also of interest...
is VSO (verb–subject–object), which is typical of Polynesian languages. Some examples of word order from are:
- te tāmā'a nei au – "[present continuous] eat [present continuous] I", "I am eating"
- ua tāpū vau 'i te vahie – "[perfective aspect] chop I [object marker] the wood", "I chopped the wood"
- ua hohoni hia 'oia 'e te 'uri – "[perfective aspect] bite [passive voice] he by the dog", "He was bitten by the dog"
- e mea marō te ha'ari – "Are thing dry the coconut", "The coconuts are dry"
- e ta'ata puai 'oia – "Is man strong he", "He is a strong man"
Definite article
The article te is the definite articleDefinite Article
Definite Article is the title of British comedian Eddie Izzard's 1996 performance released on VHS. It was recorded on different nights at the Shaftesbury Theatre...
and means the. In conversation it is also used as an indefinite article for a or an.
For example;
- te fare – the house; te tane – the man
The plural of the definite article te is te mau.
For example;
- te mau fare – the houses; te mau tane – the men
Also, te may also be used to indicate a plural;
For example;
- te ta'ata – can mean the person or the people
Indefinite article
The indefinite article is te hō'e, meaning a or an.For example;
- te hō'e fare – a house
O
The article o is used with proper nouns and pronouns and implies it is.For example;
- O Tahiti – (It is) Tahiti
- O rātou – (It is) they
E
The article e corresponds to o and is used in all common nouns.For example;
- e ta'ata – (it is) a person
- e vahine – (it is) a woman
- e mau vahine – (many) women
Aspect and modality markers
Verbal aspect and modalityLinguistic modality
In linguistics, modality is what allows speakers to evaluate a proposition relative to a set of other propositions.In standard formal approaches to modality, an utterance expressing modality can always roughly be paraphrased to fit the following template:...
are important parts of Tahitian grammar, and are indicated with markers preceding and/or following the invariant verb. Important examples are:
- e: expresses an unfinished action or state.
-
- E hīmene Mere ānapo: ""Will sing Mary tonight", "Mary will sing tonight"
- 'ua: expresses a finished action, a state different from a preceding state, or surprise.
- 'Ua riri au: "Unhappy I", "I am unhappy"
- tē ... nei: indicates progressive aspect.
- Tē tanu nei vau i te taro: "planting I [dir. obj. marker] the taro", "I am planting the taro"
- e ... ana: expresses a habitual action or state.
- E tāere ana 'ōna: "Always is late he", "He is always late"
- i ... nei: indicates a finished action or a past state.
- I fānau 'aia i Tahiti nei: "Was born she in Tahiti", "She was born in Tahiti"
- i ... iho nei: indicates an action finished in the immediate past.
- I tae mai iho nei 'ōna: "He just came"
- 'ia: indicates a wish, desire, supposition, or condition.
- 'Ia vave mai!: "Hurry up!"
- 'a: indicates a command or obligation.
- 'A pi'o 'oe i raro!: "Bend down!"
- 'Eiaha e parau!: "Do not speak"
- 'Ahiri te pahī i ta'ahuri, 'ua pohe pau roa ia tātou: "If the boat had capsized, we would all be dead"
- 'Aita vau e ho'i mai: "I will not return"
- E hīmene Mere ānapo: ""Will sing Mary tonight", "Mary will sing tonight"
Common phrases and words
| Tahitian | English |
|---|---|
| Ia ora na | Hello, greetings |
| Haere mai, maeva, manava | Welcome |
| parahi | goodbye |
| nana | bye |
| E | Yes |
| Aita | No |
| mauruuru roa | thank you very much |
| mauruuru | thanks |
| E aha te huru? | How are you? |
| matai'i | well, good |
| matai'i roa | very good |
| tane | man |
| vahine | woman |
| fenua | land |
| ra'i | sky |
| vai | water |
| āuahi | fire |
| amu | eat |
| inu | drink |
| po | night |
| mahana | day/sun |
| moana | ocean, sea |
Taboo names – pi’i
In many parts of Polynesia the name of an important leader was (and sometimes still is) considered sacred (tapu) and was therefore accorded appropriate respect (manaMana
Mana is an indigenous Pacific islander concept of an impersonal force or quality that resides in people, animals, and inanimate objects. The word is a cognate in many Oceanic languages, including Melanesian, Polynesian, and Micronesian....
). In order to avoid offense, all words resembling such a name were suppressed and replaced by another term of related meaning until the personage died. If, however, the leader should happen to live to a very great age this temporary substitution could become permanent.
In the rest of Polynesia tū means to stand, but in Tahitian it became ti’a, because the word was included in the name of king Tū-nui-’ē’a-i-te-atua
Pomare I
Pōmare I, King of Tahiti , fully in old orthography: Tu-nui-ea-i-te-atua-i-Tarahoi Vairaatoa Taina Pōmare I , was the unifier and first king of Tahiti and founder of the Pōmare dynasty and the Kingdom of Tahiti between 1788? and 1791.Outu is the phonetic English rendering of...
. Likewise fetū (star) has become in Tahiti feti’a and aratū (pillar) became arati’a. Although nui (big) still occurs in some compounds, like Tahiti-nui, the usual word is rahi (which is a common word in Polynesian languages
Polynesian languages
The Polynesian languages are a language family spoken in the region known as Polynesia. They are classified as part of the Austronesian family, belonging to the Oceanic branch of that family. They fall into two branches: Tongic and Nuclear Polynesian. Polynesians share many cultural traits...
for 'large'). The term ’ē’a fell in disuse, replaced by purūmu or porōmu. Nowadays ’ē’a means 'path' while purūmu means 'road'.
Tū also had a nickname, Pō-mare (literally means 'night coughing'), under which his dynasty has become best known. By consequence pō (night) became ru`i (nowadays only used in the Bible
Bible
The Bible refers to any one of the collections of the primary religious texts of Judaism and Christianity. There is no common version of the Bible, as the individual books , their contents and their order vary among denominations...
, pō having become the word commonly in use once again), but mare (literally cough) has irreversibly been replaced by hota.
Other examples include;
- vai (water) became pape as in the names of Papeari, Papeno’o, Pape’ete
- moe (sleep) became ta’oto (the original meaning of which was 'to lie down').
Some of the old words are still used on the Leewards
Leeward Islands (Society Islands)
The Leeward Islands are the western part of the Society Islands in French Polynesia, an overseas collectivity of France in the South Pacific. They lie south of the Line Islands , east of the Cooks and north of the Austral Islands . Their area is 395 km² with a population of over 33,000...
.
See also
- Lord Monboddo
- Swadesh list of Tahitian words