Mauri Ora
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Glossary
| aki | encourage |
| Atua | ancestor with continuing influence, god, demon, supernatural being, ghost, object of superstitious regard, strange being, God. |
| Aotearoa | North Island - now used as the Māori name for New Zealand. |
| aroha | to love, pity, feel concern for. |
| affection, sympathy, charity, compassion, love. | |
| Ariki | chief |
| awa | river |
| haka powhiri | welcome haka - ceremonial dance performed to welcome visitors. Sometimes leaves are waved as a symbol of death. |
| hākari | to have a feast. |
| hapu | be pregnant, conceived in the womb, clan, tribe, sub-tribe - section of a large tribe. |
| harakeke | New Zealand flax. |
| hariru | handshake |
| hauora | be fit, well, healthy, vigorous, in good spirits, health, vigour. |
| heru paraora | whalebone comb |
| hinengaro | mind, thought, intellect, consciousness, awareness, psychological. |
| hongi | to press noses in greeting, smell, sniff. |
| hui | meetings or gatherings |
| hunga kainga | hosting people |
| Hura kohatu | Unveiling – a ceremony at the graveside to unveil the headstone |
| huritau | to consider, reflect upon, be recurring annually, anniversary, birthday. |
| Iwi | tribe, nation, people, race. strength, bone - usually human bone only. |
| kai mahi | worker |
| kai waiata | Singers, entertaining during the meal. |
References: http://www.maoridictionary.co.nz/index.cfm, Reed Dictionary & Mauri Ora Resources 1 Glossary for the Mauri Ora Programme | |
| kainga | home, residence, village, settlement |
| Kaumatua | to grow old, grow up, adult, elder, elderly man, elderly woman. |
| kai tautoko | supporter, advocate, seconder (meeting). |
| kaitataki | person who performs the wero or single warrior |
| kaitiaki | trustee, minder, guard, custodian, guardian. |
| karakia | to recite ritual chants, say grace, pray, recite a prayer, chant. |
| karanga | to call, call out, shout, summon, the ceremonial call of welcome. |
| karanga maioha | karanga performed by host group |
| karanga tiwaha | karanga performed by visitors |
| kaumatua | elders |
| kaupapa | purpose or subject |
| kawa | to perform the kawa ceremony, open a new house. |
| a ceremony to remove tapu from a new house or canoe. (Te Pihinga Textbook (Ed. 2): | |
| kawakawa | kawakawa, pepper tree, Macropiper excelsum - a small, densely-branched tree with heart-shaped leaves. Found throughout the North Island and as far south as Banks Peninsula. Used for ceremonies, including removing tapu, for medicinal purposes, and as a symbol of death. |
| koata | quarter. |
| koha | gift, present, offering, donation, contribution. |
| korero | to speak |
| kotahitanga | a movement for national unity among Māori tribes. |
| koroua | elderly man |
| korowai | cloak |
| kete | basket, kit. |
| kuia | elderly woman, grandmother, female elder. |
| kuia karanga | elderly woman caller |
| mahinga | session of work, shift |
| mahinga kai | garden, cultivation |
| mahau | veranda |
| mana | integrity, charisma, prestige, formal |
| manu tioriori | Song bird |
| manuka | dart |
| mangai korero | speaker or mouthpiece |
| manuhiri | visitor guest |
| manaakitanga | hospitality, kindness. |
| marae atea | courtyard, public forum - open area in front of the wharenui where formal welcomes to visitors takes place and issues are debated. |
| mārena | to marry, marriage, wedding. |
| Mauri | Life force |
| moana | oceans and seas |
| mātaitai | seafood, shellfish - fish or other food obtained from the sea. |
| mōteatea | to grieve. |
| lament, traditional chant - a general term for songs sung in traditional mode. | |
| nehu | the day of the burial. |
| nga | plural |
| nga atua | gods |
| noa | be free from the extensions of 'tapu', ordinary, unrestricted. (Te Kōhure Textbook (Ed. 2): 237-240; |
| oriori | lullaby, song composed on the birth of a chiefly child about his/her ancestry and tribal history |
| paepae tapu | threshold, door sill (of a meeting house door). |
| pakeha | New Zealander of European descent. |
| pakiwaitara | legend, story, fiction, folklore, gossip. |
| pakuha | traditional wedding ceremony. |
| pare | to turn aside, ward off, divert, fend, go to one side, avoid |
| protection, fortification. | |
| pepeha | tribal saying, proverb (especially about a tribe), set form of words, formulaic expression, figure of speech. |
| powhiri | to welcome, invite, beckon, wave. See also pōhiri, invitation, rituals of encounter, welcome ceremony on a marae. |
| pūrākau | myth, ancient legend, story, be legendary, mythical. |
| rahui | to put in place a temporary ritual prohibition, closed season, ban, reserve - traditionally a 'rāhui' was placed on an area, resource or stretch of water as a conservation measure or as a means of social and political control for a variety of reasons which can be grouped into three main categories: pollution by tapu, conservation and politics. |
| Rangatira | chief (male or female), chieftain, chieftainess, master, mistress, boss, supervisor, employer, landlord, owner |
| ringawera | kitchen worker, kitchen hand. |
| ta koha | gifting |
| takahi whare | tramping the house - ceremony for clearing the house of the spirit of the deceased. |
| takapau | ceremonial mat, |
| taonga | property, goods, possessions, effects, treasure, something prized. |
| taumau | to betroth, bespeak, reserve for oneself, claim land on discovery. |
| tauparapara | spiritual chant |
| tono | to request, send, ask for, apply for, order, demand, bid, command, application, invitation, request, claim, tender. |
| tangata | person, man, human being. |
| tangata whenua | local people, hosts, indigenous people of the land - people born of the whenua, i.e. of the placenta and of the land where the people's ancestors have lived and where their placenta are buried. |
| tangihanga | weeping, crying, sound, funeral, rites for the dead. (Te Pihinga Study Guide (Ed. 1): 80-82;Te Māhuri Study Guide (Ed. 1): 56-57;) |
| Tapu | be sacred, prohibited, restricted, set apart, forbidden, under atua protection. |
| te mauri o te marae | the vital life force of the marae (Huihuinga). |
| te wero | to pierce, spear, challenge, stab, poke, jab, bite, sting (of an insect), inject. noun) piercing, stabbing, injection, challenge at a pōhiri, spine (of a stingray). |
| tihei mauri ora | breath |
| tikanga | custom, the way things are done/practices |
| tinana | body, trunk (of a tree), the main part of anything, self, person, reality - as opposed to an apparition. |
| tira | travelling group |
| tipuna/tupuna | ancestor, grandparent, grandfather, grandmother - eastern dialect variation of 'tupuna'. |
| tīwaha | to shout out, call, yell, bawl, bellow at. |
| tūpāpaku | corpse, deceased. |
| waewae tapu | newcomer, rare visitor - a person who has not been to a particular 'marae' or place before. |
| waerea | chant, |
| wahine | women |
| wai | water |
| waiata | to sing. |
| waiata tangi | songs of lament |
| Wairua | spirit, soul, quintessence - spirit of a person which exists beyond death. |
| waka | canoe, vehicle, conveyance, spirit medium, medium (of an 'atua'), long narrow receptacle, box (for feathers), water trough. |
| allied tribes descended from the crew of a canoe which migrated to New Zealand. | |
| wero | formal challenge |
| whaikorero | make a formal speech |
| whakanoa | to neutralise |
| whakapapa | to lie flat, lay flat, recite in proper order (e.g. genealogies, legends, months), recite genealogies. |
| genealogy, genealogical table, lineage, descent. | |
| whakatauki | proverb |
| whanau | to be born, give birth. |
| extended family, family group, a familiar term of address to a number of people. | |
| whānau pani | chief mourners, bereaved family - the relations of the deceased. |
| whakanoa | to remove tapu - to free things that have the extensions of tapu, but it does not affect intrinsic tapu. |
| whaikōrero | to make a formal speech. |
| oratory, oration. (Te Kōhure Textbook (Ed. 2): 243-247;) | |
| whare kai | eating house |
| whare-a-apakura/whare mate | house of death or house of lamentation |
| wharenui | meeting house, large house - main building of a marae where guests are accommodated, Traditionally the wharenui belonged to a hapū or whānau but modern meeting houses have been built for non-tribal groups, including schools and tertiary institutions. Many are decorated with carvings, rafter paintings and tukutuku panels. (Te Kōhure Textbook (Ed. 2): 265-266;) |
| wharepuni | sleeping house |
| whakaritenga | arrangements. |
| whanaungatanga | relationship, kinship, sense of family connection |
| whakataukī | to utter a proverb, proverb, saying, cryptic saying, aphorism. |
| whakanui | to enlarge, celebrate, honour, exalt, magnify. |
| whenua | land |
| urupā | burial ground, cemetery, graveyard. |
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