302 Transactions. — Miscellaneous . 



If we pursue the Malay words lawalaica and lahalaha into 

 Polynesia we arrive at some curious results. We do not find 

 the word in its proper form and meaning, although we have 

 it as a compound in the Fijian virita-laxoalaiva, " a spider's 

 web." The Hawaiian laivalaiva does not either mean 

 "spider" or "cobweb," but its signification shows that it 

 applies to actions resembling a spider's work. Thus it 

 means "to stretch cords from one place to another; to 

 fasten something"; (2) "to bind, as a grass house or any- 

 thing in danger " ; (3) "to bind round and make fast." This 

 dialect appears to have substituted n for v in direct words for 

 spiders, thus we have (instead of lazoalawa) lanalana, " the 

 name of a large brown spider that stands high on its legs" ; 

 (2) "a rope with which the outrigger of a canoe is tied to the 

 arched connecting-poles " ; (3) "to cause to float." Lana is 

 " to float, to swim in the air or on the surface of the water ; 

 buoyant." Also, to complete the resemblance in Hawaiian 

 (and show the looseness of I and n), nanana, " the long-legged 

 spider " ; (2) " to swell up, as the abdomen " ; (3) "a spider's 

 web": pimanajia, "a species of spider"; (2) "the spider's 

 web." But with this last we revert to the Malay form, for 

 with the Hawaiian pulawalawa, "bound tightly and firmly, 

 as a thatched house with cords from post to post," shows the 

 original idea of a web-like cordage. Note, however, that the 

 Hawaiian lanalana, "the spider," is the direct equal (accord- 

 ing to the Polynesian ' Grimm's Law' — -viz., Hawaiian I and 

 n represents Maori r and ng) of the Maori ranga and raranga, 

 " to weave." 



I need not remind my readers of the connection always 

 maintained in classical poetry and legend between the spider 

 and the weaver, the spinner and the web. Even in our 

 vernacular we speak of "the web" on the loom, and the 

 fable of Arachne has blended itself with almost all thought 

 on the subject. Not only in Maori but in other Polynesian 

 dialects does the idea of weaving pertain to the word ranga. 

 We have the Samoan lalaga, Tahitian raraa, Tongan lalaga, 

 Paumotuan raraga, Mangarevan raraga, all meaning " to 

 weave," and also the Futuna lalaga, "to weave," lagalaga 

 "to weave a basket." So that the words which in Hawaiian 

 mean "spider" and "web" become in other dialects the words 

 for " weaving." 



This is strengthened by the Timorese word naha, "a 

 spider," shown above as being a form of Malay lahalaba or 

 lawalawa, for this word strongly suggests the Maori word 

 nape, " to weave," arose from a root VNAP or NABH (a 

 variant of v^LAP or LAV), as in the old Sanscrit root 

 VNABH, " to bind, to connect." It appears again in the 

 Tongan nabe, " a method of plaiting sinnet," and in the Pau- 



