Note: This is one of the pages written in the prototype stage of this web site, which has been transferred to the newer format with a few changes, including several more photographs. It contains the essential linguistic and botanical information, along with other material. Further information may be included later (new pages for plant names not yet discussed are being given priority).
Terminalia catappa is a widely distributed tropical tree growing natively throughout Southeast Asia, Northern Australia and many parts of Polynesia. It is known in Eastern Polynesia by names which seem to be derived from a combination of the old Austronesian word for "tree", *kayu, and the Proto-Polynesian *'ariki, "a chief". The Proto-Polynesian name has been reconstructed as *talie or *telie, which is reflected in the usual Samoan (and, in one form or another, Western Polynesian) word for the tree, which can be traced back to Proto Malayo-Polynesian *talisay (with cognates throughout Austronesia, e.g. Tagalog talisay, still designating T. catappa and sometimes other species of Terminalia).
 The Terminalia tree is often called the "tropical almond", because the edible kernels of the nuts (illustrated on the left) have an almond-like taste. As attested by the second Samoan meaning, the water-resistant wood has been used in Polynesia in canoe construction. Teuira Henry notes that in Tahiti "The wood, close grained and with variegated brown shades, [was] valued by cabinet makers" (Ancient Tahiti, p.54). Nonetheless, the predominant use has probably been as a shade tree.
In Samoan, the word 'auali'i was recorded by the Rev. George Pratt in the 19th Century as meaning "1. A talie tree (Terminalia). 2. A keel of a canoe made from talie. A chief's word." However, even though this signifies that the word has been an alternative to talie in Samoa for well over a century, some lexicographers think that in this sense it was actually introduced from Tahiti (cf. the Rensch & Whistler Dictionary, p. 36). I think that the solution to this conundrum may be that the second meaning listed by Mr Pratt may be the original one, as the *talie/*kaualiki tree is a seaside one, often planted to provide shade, and the kind of place where a chief might well address his assembled followers or advisors. So the word itself may be Proto Nuclear Polynesian (as it is listed in the Pollex database), but with Proto Eastern Polynesian converting it to a tree name replacing the older *talie.
However this may be, looking at the large, prominently veined leaves of this tree, and the small, inconspicuous flowers, it is not at all surprising that in Aotearoa the name was given to Coprosma grandifolia. An alternative name for the Terminalia tree, *taraire, developed in Proto Tahitic era, and is reflected in that sense in Mangaian (another Cook Island Polynesian language) and Tuamotuan (this is the name for yet another large-leaved tree, Beilschmeidia tarairi, in New Zealand Māori).
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