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So. Theme week: words from Polynesian languages, which are spoken on those Pacific islands in the triangle defined by New Zealand, Hawaii, and Easter Island, excluding Fiji. [Sidebar: Fijians are not Polynesian, but rather ethnic Melanesians (that is, related to Papuan peoples of New Guinea) who came to speak an Austronesian (i.e. non-Melanesian) language that’s closely related to the Polynesian subfamily.] This is definitively not part of last year’s series of words from various indigenous American languages. It happens to be aligned with one segment of that series, in that Hawaiian is Polynesian, but it and Rapa Nui are the only Polynesian languages of the Americas (and we didn’t get enough words from the latter to fill even one week), but to reiterate, this is separate. I have no plans to continue with other language groups of the world — no, not even Malay, even though it’s in the same Austronesian family — but nonetheless, here’s a two-week theme of words from Polynesian languages that aren’t Hawaiian, starting with:
taboo (tuh-BOO, ta-BOO) - n., (in Oceania) a prohibition excluding something from use, approach, or mention because it is sacred and inviolable; (in general) a ban on saying, mentioning, or doing something from social custom or emotional aversion. adj., (in Oceania) excluded from use because of its sacred nature; (in general) cutlurally forbidden. v., to mark as taboo; to ban, forbid.
Although the word and concept is found throughout Polynesia, including Maori tapu and Hawaiian kapu, we know in this case it's from Tongan tapu because the first use is by Captain James Cook in his journal of his 1777 visit to Tonga. (In Tongan, p and b are apparently hard to differentiate.) In general, his account of the word is fairly accurate, by our modern understanding of the concept.
In contrast, there's the Bonus Word noa (NOH-uh), having no sacredness / being free of taboo / a blessing, which is used almost exclusively in New Zealand English and so can be considered taken from Maori, though the word is common across Polynesia, including in Tahitian and Hawaiian. Per Wikipedia, "Noa, on the other hand, lifts the tapu from the person or the object. Noa is similar to a blessing ... A new house today, for example, may have a noa ceremony to remove the tapu, in order to make the home safe before the family moves in."
---L.
taboo (tuh-BOO, ta-BOO) - n., (in Oceania) a prohibition excluding something from use, approach, or mention because it is sacred and inviolable; (in general) a ban on saying, mentioning, or doing something from social custom or emotional aversion. adj., (in Oceania) excluded from use because of its sacred nature; (in general) cutlurally forbidden. v., to mark as taboo; to ban, forbid.
Although the word and concept is found throughout Polynesia, including Maori tapu and Hawaiian kapu, we know in this case it's from Tongan tapu because the first use is by Captain James Cook in his journal of his 1777 visit to Tonga. (In Tongan, p and b are apparently hard to differentiate.) In general, his account of the word is fairly accurate, by our modern understanding of the concept.
In contrast, there's the Bonus Word noa (NOH-uh), having no sacredness / being free of taboo / a blessing, which is used almost exclusively in New Zealand English and so can be considered taken from Maori, though the word is common across Polynesia, including in Tahitian and Hawaiian. Per Wikipedia, "Noa, on the other hand, lifts the tapu from the person or the object. Noa is similar to a blessing ... A new house today, for example, may have a noa ceremony to remove the tapu, in order to make the home safe before the family moves in."
---L.
