390 THE POLYNESIAN WANDERINGS. 



330. 

 niu, the coconut palm. 



Samoa, Fakaafo, Tonga, Futuna, Niue, Tahiti, Hawaii, Rarotonga, 

 Manahiki, Tongarewa, Paumotu, Rapanui, Fotuna, Nukuoro, 

 Nuguria, Moiki: niu, coconut. Mangareva: niu, the coconut 

 palm when young, ripening into nikau. Maori : niu, a means 

 of divination by sticks; nikau, a palm. Marquesas: niu, a 

 top, a species of coconut. Mangaia: nu, the coconut palm. 



Viti: niu, the coconut palm. Rotuma: niu, id. 



Sesake, Epi, Arag, Ulawa, Wango, Fagani, Saa, Bululaha, Vaturanga, 

 Nggela, Bugotu, Motu, Kabadi, Pokau, Doura, Sinaugoro, Hula, 

 Keapara, Galoma, Mugula, Suau, Sariba, Tubetube, Panaieti, 

 Nada, Dobu, Port Moresby, Moanus, Solomon Islands, Lifu: 

 niu, the coconut. Misima: nihu, id. Buka: neu, id. Alite: 

 liu, id. Mukawa: niura, id. Awalama, Taupota : neura, id. 

 Kwagila: diura, id. Kubiri, Kiviri: rura, id. Nengone, 



Nifilole: nu, id. Kiriwina: nuia, luia, id. New Caledonia: 

 ni, id. 



Malagasy: nihu, the coconut. Dyak: nju, id. Salibabo: nyu, id. 

 Salayer: nydrah, id. Malay: nior, id. Liang: nier, id. Gah: 

 niula, id. Bicol: niyog, id. Cajeli, Mayapo, Massaratty, 

 Amblaw: niivi, id. Morella: niwil, id. Lariko: nimil, id. 

 Batumerah, Caimarian : niwcli, id. Awaiya : liweli, id. Teluti : 

 nuelo, id. Wahai: luen, id. Java: nu, id. Sulu: nui, id. 

 Ahtiago: nuim, id. Tobo: niia, id. Malay: nw, id. 



Arabic : nah'lu, nah'ilu, palms (general and collective respectively) . 



In Polynesia the only form variant is Mangaia nu, an unusual loss and 

 to be met with again only in Nengone and Nifilole and in a part of Indonesia. 

 In the Marquesas niu is not the usual name of the coconut, but it does 

 occur and is recorded by Bishop Dordillon. The sense of top lies in the 

 fact that the bud end of a coconut shell is used for spinning, both in the 

 sport of children and as a means of applying to island life the practical side 

 of the doctrine of chances. Thus it may be that in New Zealand, in lati- 

 tudes higher than are grateful to the coconut, the divination sense has per- 

 sisted even to different implements whereby the arbitrament of fate may 

 be declared. 



In Melanesia there is no deviation from sense and very few instances of 

 form variation. Buka neu is a very slight variant. In Alite the n-l muta- 

 tion is normal; thus liu is readily identified. The occurrence of nu has 

 already been mentioned. Such internal loss is not regular in these lan- 

 guages. Furthermore the ni of New Caledonia leads us to infer that niu 

 was anciently a composite in which ni carried at least some sort of generic 

 sense, it being understood that this refers to those characteristics which 

 might strike the islanders as indicating a genus. In composition with kau 

 (301) tree we should then see nikau, the m'-tree, serving in Mangareva for 

 the coconut palm, in New Zealand for the characteristic palm (Areca sapida) 

 of that land, in Tahiti as niau for coconut leaf, and as niau in Hawaii for 

 the leaf stalk of the coconut. The ?^'-form is found in Micronesia, and in 

 the Marshall Islands ni is the coconut. 



