Proto Central Eastern Polynesian: *Lata, PCEP *Rata
REFLEXES IN SOME POLYNESIAN LANGUAGES:
Tahitian: Rata (Metrosideros collina [Myrtaceae]); Rātā (Inocarpus edulis [Fabaceae])
Marquesan: Ata (Eugenia rariflora [Myrtaceae])
Rarotongan: Rātā; (Metrosideros collina [Myrtaceae])
Maori: Rātā;(Metrosideros umbellata & M. robusta [Myrtaceae])

POSSIBLE COGNATE WORD IN ANOTHER AUSTRONESIAN LANGUAGE
It is possible that Fijian lato "Metrosideros collina" is cognate with the Eastern Polynesian variants of *Rata, which would imply a Proto Western Fijiic/Polynesian origin for the source word.

Watch this space! This is one of the pages written in the prototype stage of this web site, which has been transferred with minimal changes to the newer format. It is still therefore very much under construction, but contains the essential linguistic and botanical information, and both updated text and pictures will be added progressively as soon as time permits (new pages for plant names not yet discussed are being given priority). If you would like this page to be updated sooner than planned, please email a note to temaarareo at gmail.com.

Metrosideros collina (Polynesia and Vanuatu) and the plants grouped together as M. polymorpha (Hawaii) are species very closely related to the pohutukawa (M. excelsa), and probably originated from seed blown to various Polynesian islands from New Zealand. The name itself could possibly have originated in Fiji -- Fijian languages have two words which may be cognate with the Polynesian ones -- lato, denoting varieties of the widespread M. collina, is the stronger candidate despite the difference in the final vowels, and lata, denoting the herb Plectranthus forsteri (Lamiaceae), which despite the name does not seem to have anything in common with the Metrosideros species, and is probably better regarded as a coincidental homonym. Within Polynesia, there seems to be alteration in the form of the word, with some languages having cognates with long vowels and others with short vowels. Tahitian has words with both, and it is likely that rātā as the name of the Tahitian chestnut Inocarpus fagifer had an independent origin but was carried to Rarotonga and Aotearoa as a synonym for the similar-sounding rata.