52 
POLYNESIAN RESEARCHES. 
their substituting a compound for a single word. 
This is the case in the words Otaheite, Otaha, and 
Owhyhee, which ought to be Tahiti, Tahaa, and 
Hawaii. The O is no part of these words, but 
is the preposition of , or belonging to; or t it is 
the sign of the case, denoting it to be the nomi¬ 
native, answering to the question who or what, 
which would be O wai ? The sign of the case 
being prefixed to the interrogation, the answer 
uniformly corresponds, as, 
Nom . O wai ia aina ?—What that land ? 
Aws. O Hawaii:—-Hawaii. 
Pos. No hea oe ?—Of whence you ? 
Aws. No Hawaii:—Of or belonging to Hawaii. 
O bj, Hoe oe i hea?—Sailing you to where? 
Ans. I Hawaii:—To Hawaii. 
Mai hea mai oe ?—From whence you ? 
Ans. Mai Hawai mai:—From Hawaii. 
Any one of these, or other similar combinations, 
in which the word Ha-wai-i occurs, might have 
been given as the name of the island, with as much 
correctness as that which commences with the O, 
which appears sometimes to be a contraction of the 
pronoun, and is never used excepting when the 
word begins a sentence, and consequently is, even 
as a combination, not of frequent occurrence. The 
natives are certainly most likely to know the name 
of their own island : the designation they give it 
we have adopted, and believe, that in so doing, we 
have the approbation of all unprejudiced men, 
more than we should have had in perpetuating an 
error, which their discoverer, had he possessed the 
means of so doing, would very cheerfully have 
corrected. 
In pronouncing the word Ha-wai-i, the Ha is 
sounded short as in Hah, the wai as wye, and the 
final i as e in me. 
