MAORI PLACE NAMES

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Issue 87, 29 April 1937, Page 4

MAORI PLACE NAMES

Pitfalls in Their Translation "The subject of place names has received much attention recentiy, and it must be admitted that it is not always an easy matter even for the Maori expert to give a decisive opinion," remarkea Mi E. Nepia, when speaking at the meeting of the Hastings Historical Society last evening. "Just as the pakeha names his towns after public perso a&es, ^ aid the Maori name rila.es to cor. mercorate some iffodent conn-iled witn particular spot. To know why a place name is given requires a knowledge of local history but illogical as it may seem, a school is forming that seeks to elucidate. meanings by dissection of the words with the help of the dictionary. "I have in mind a 6uburb of Auckland — Otahuhu. Here is a name simple in conception. Maori history is emphatic that a chief named Tahuhu lived there. The prefix 'O' means 'the place or home of. "Hence we have the meaning, the home of Tahuhu.' The dictionary school, howeier seeks to weave romance m to it. In their hands it becomes 'Ota,' meaning raw or uncooked, and 'Huhu', a wood-boring girnb, hence the glibly conceived meaning, 'The place of uncooked caterpillar.' An alternative would be, 'fche place of the houso ridge-pole,' as Tahuhu also means the ridge pole of a Maori house," Mr Nepia continued. "These fantastic interpretations, are of course, neither correct nor substantiated bv history."