GLOSSARY
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GLOSSARY |
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| ahu | a place of worship, called marae in other parts of Polynesia and heiau in Hawai‘i. These ceremonial shrines take many shapes. Not all had statues | |
| aku aku | supernatural spirits of the land, believed to frequent specific tribal areas; referred to as varua in Tahiti | |
| ana | cave | |
| 'ao | ceremonial dance paddle with a human face on one end; also, a ruler or person of authority | |
| 'ariki | chief, head of descent group | |
| 'ariki mau | paramount chief | |
| aringa ora | 'living faces', the collective name for the statues | |
| avanga | burial chamber created in later years beneath ahu | |
| hanga | bay | |
| hare | house | |
| henua | land, earth | |
| hetu'u | star | |
| Hiva | mythical ancestral homeland | |
| honu | turtle | |
| Hotu Matu'a | legendary founder of the island; this original ariki and his family and followers came from Hiva | |
| Huri-moai | the Late Period of Rapanui history; the warring period as it is sometimes referred to | |
| ika | fish, victim, human sacrifice; a post missionary carving in the shape of a fish | |
| iti | little - in opposition to "rapa," big | |
| ivi | bone, lineage | |
| ivi atua | a shaman-like priest; literally, '"bones of the gods" or "bones of the ancestors"; said to have been able to commune with the akuaku | |
| kai | food, eat; "to account" | |
| kaikai | string fingures | |
| Kaimoko | the last king of Rapanui; he was captured by Peruvian slave traders and died working in the guano fields of Peru | |
| kainga | land, Rapanui, clan territory | |
| kavakava | rib, see also moai kavakava (carved figure) | |
| kie'a | red (the red clay dye) | |
| kio' | servant (or farmer) | |
| kio'e | Polynesian rat (Rattus concolor), now extinct on Rapa Nui | |
| koro | feast | |
| kouhau (kohau) | a staff: orginally the battle staff and then over time the ceremonial staff; in the 19th century any wooden object with rongorongo on it received was so named | |
| kuhane | soul, spirit | |
| kumara | sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas) | |
| maea | rock or stone | |
| mahina | moon | |
| mahute | paper mulberry (Broussonetia papyrifera), from which tapa cloth was made from the inner bark | |
| Makemake | deity associated with warriors and warfare (pronounced "maakay maakay" | |
| maika | banana | |
| makohe | frigate bird (Fregata minor) | |
| mana | spiritual power or force | |
| manavai | stone walled or sunken garden enclosures | |
| mangai | fishhook | |
| manu | bird | |
| manu ori | "ancestral mask"; kite; masked people | |
| ma'ori | expert | |
| marae | sacred enclosure, a place of worship (Polynesian, general); in the Marquesas, mae'a; in Hawai'i, heiau | |
| maro | sacred loincloth of authority | |
| mata | eye, people, clan, ancestor | |
| matato'a | warrior | |
| ma'unga | mountain, hill | |
| miro | tree; wood | |
| Miru | primary status clan on the island | |
| moa | chicken | |
| moai | statue, carving | |
| moai aringa | double headed images | |
| moai maea | stone images | |
| moai toromiro | generic term for wooden images/carvings | |
| moko | lizard | |
| motu | islet | |
| noa | the lifting of tapu | |
| oho | hair | |
| paenga | finished basalt stone slab used for the stone foundations of homes for ariki and such | |
| paoa | short wooden war club | |
| papa | flat lava flow, pahoehoe | |
| pora | totora tusk-shaped reed float | |
| pukao | cylindrical stone topknots or headress for statues, made of red scoria | |
| pure uriuri | black shells | |
| ra'a | the sun | |
| rangi | sky, heaven | |
| rano | crater lake | |
| rapa | ceremonial dance paddle | |
| rei | cognate with the Hawaiian term lei, necklace of flowers | |
| rona | sign, ideographs, carved symbols or designs on stone, wood, banana leaves, and other indigenous materials | |
| rongorongo | wood tablets with undeciphered symbols. The priests who were trained to chant the sacred information were the tangata rongorongo. | |
| tabiri | key | |
| tahonga | coconut-shaped pendant, said to have been worn by royalty | |
| takona | tattoo | |
| tangata | man, living person | |
| tangata manu | birdman | |
| tá | "write" and "writing"; the premissionary (1871) name for rongorongo | |
| tapa | bark cloth, made from the mahute tree | |
| tapu | sacred, prohibited; source for the word 'taboo' | |
| taro | a starchy tuber (Colocasia esculenta) which is made into poi | |
| ta'u | year; a form of rongorongo writing | |
| taula | priest similar to ivi atua; taua in the Marquesas | |
| tiaki ana | cave guardians | |
| toa | sugarcane (Saccharum officinarum) | |
| toki | stone pick/adze made of basalt | |
| tuhunga, tufunga | protopolynesian word for expert, priest. Elsewhere in Polynesia a priest is referred to as maori, tohunga, or kahuna | |
| tumu | source, family tree; group into which one may marry | |
| tumu ivi atua | shaman | |
| tupa | stone towers with inner chambers, of uncertain function. Similar structures in the Tuamotus were used as "turtle watching" towers: actually for watching the stars to predict when turtles would come to the shores | |
| tupuna | ancestor | |
| u'a | anthropomorphic ceremonial staff with a double human head on the end | |
| 'umu pae | earth oven | |
| umu takapu | sacrificial earth oven | |
| uta | the uninhabited center of the island, where spirits were said to dwell | |
| vai | water | |
| vahine | woman | |
| vaka | canoe | |
| varua | spirit of a deceased person | |
| vi'e | woman |