Williams. — Scientific Study of Maori Names. 363 



— that, even when the elements have been correctly ascertained, we are not 

 necessarily thereby in possession of the clue to the real meaning of the name. 

 This warning is not a mere haphazard one, as will be seen by consulting the 

 works of two gentlemen who had a very close acquaintance with the Maori 

 language. The late Rev. W. Colenso published in 1883 a paper entitled 

 " Nomenclature," which he had read before the Hawke's Bay Institute. 

 In this he deals at some length with a few Maori names. I need not detail 

 all the wild and astonishing speculations of that paper, but will refer to one 

 or two. The hill Kahu-ranaki, in Hawke's Bay, he prefers to spell Kahu- 

 raanake, writing more suo " aa " for a long " a " ; he then divides the word 

 Ka-hura-anake, which he interprets as " the great and only revealer," which 

 we may assert with confidence that the name does not mean. Kohinu- 

 rakau, he says, means " choice fat of the woods, including Maori game — 

 birds and delicious wood-rats, fruits, and pure water," wilfully ignoring the 

 fact that rakau is " wood " only in the sense of " timber," which destroys 

 his whole theory. A little later in the paper, after making very merry 

 over a speculation by the Rev. R. Taylor with regard to Tongariro, he goes 

 on to explain the name as derived " from the snow often deposited by the 

 south wind upon it, tonga being also commonly used by them for biting 

 cold, hence for snow— the cause for the effect ; and then owing to the heat 

 arising from the crater the fallen snow remained but a very short time on 

 the cone or peak, and thus became riro (gone). So different in this respect 

 from the neighbouring crest, which also bears the highly appropriate name 

 of Para-te-tai-tonga* (dirt or dregs from the southern sea)." 



John White, in his six volumes of " The Ancient History of the Maori," 

 explains every name, as it occurs, by the simple process of chopping it into 

 lengths and giving each piece a meaning. He makes Pdkarae (karae being 

 a bird-name) into plka-rae, and translates it " dry headland," in defiance 

 of Maori grammar (vol. iii, 34). He comes across Pu-marangai (from form 

 and context obviously a wind-name) in its southern form Pu-marakai, and 

 explains it — " pu, the great climax ; mara-kai, plot of cultivated kumara " 

 (i, 18) : again doing violence to the language by substituting a long " a " 

 in the first syllable of mara for the short " a " in the original. Kahutia- 

 te-rangi, he says in one passage (i, 22), means '"' the heaven pulled up," and 

 in another (iii, 9) " the garment of heaven." He twists Takahia-pii-poka 

 into " how many cuts made"" (i, 27) ; and Rangi-whitiki-ora into " day of 

 life putting the belt on " (i, 31). But with regard to Hawaiki he surpasses 

 himself, giving in one paragraph no less than four explanations : " Ha-ivai- 

 ki, ' water of breath filled ' ; Haiva-i-ki, ' chipped and filled ' ; Ha-wai-h 

 (iti), ' water of small breath ' ; Hawa-iki (iti), ' broken small ' " (i, 174). All 

 this — and hundreds of examples, might be added — is just so much solemn 

 fooling on the part of these learned gentlemen, and is, as a contribution to 

 the investigation of Maori names, as valuable as the schoolboy's rendering 

 of the name William into Latin by Volunlas-ego-sum. 



It is not that inquiry into Maori names is futile — far from it ; but it 

 must be conducted on scientific lines. I have said that there is immediate 

 need for the patient and diligent collecting and recording of Maori names. 

 There is need, further, of obtaining, before it is too late, from living Maoris 

 all that they know of the traditions relating to those names. Lastly, all 

 the matter must be patiently and laboriously sifted. And then we m:iy 

 hope to know something of the subject. But in all this there is no room 



* Two other forms of this name are current among the Maori — Pare-te-tai-tongn 

 and Pare-tai-toiiga. 



