Index to Proto-Polynesian, Māori and Botanical Names

Introductory Note
[Skip to list of names] or [Skip to list of Māori plant names in Te Paipera Tapu]

The table on this page lists the plant names known to have been brought to Aotearoa from Polynesia by the first explorers and settlers. The modern standard [Māori Language Commission] orthography is used for the Māori words - see the Introduction to the "Genealogy of Names" page (under the "ORIGINS" tab) for more information about how modern words in other Polynesian languages and reconstructed words are written.

The number in square brackets indicates the ultimate origin of the name, from Proto-Austronesian ([1]) to Proto-Rarotongan/Maori ([12]) - these stages in the development of Māori are also outlined in the introduction to this set of pages. They are, briefly (and of course skipping a lot of intermediate stages in the first few thousand years):

[1] Proto-Austronesian (At least 5,000 years ago)
[2] Proto-Malayo-Polynesian (Centred on the Philippines & Sulawesi)
[3] Proto-Oceanic (Dispersal along the New Guinea coast into the Pacific - "Near Oceania")
[4] Proto-Eastern Oceanic (Entry into "Remote Oceania")
[5] Proto-Central Pacific (Common source of Rotuman, some Micronesian, Fijian and Polynesian languages)
[6] Proto-South Central Pacific (Common source of Eastern Fijian and Polynesian languages)
[7] Proto-Polynesian (Centred on Tonga & Samoa & Tuvalu jointly)
[8] Proto-Nuclear Polynesian> (Centred on Samoa, Tuvalu and vicinity)
[8a] Proto-Far Western Polynesian (the possible precursor to Proto-Eastern Polynesian; see the page for *Pakilangi)
[9] Proto-Eastern Polynesian ("Remote Polynesia", including Rapanui, but possibly much more complicated than that: -- see the "Language Introduction" page)
[10] Proto-Central Eastern Polynesian (Centred on Tahiti, after the separation of Marquesan, Mangarevan and Rapanui)
[11] Proto-Tahitic (Centred on Tahiti, after separation of Hawaiian, effectively the last stage, supplemented by)
[12] Words shared exclusively by Rarotongan and Maori (These are a group of words originating in the Cook Islands which were also carried to Aotearoa in the early days of settlement)

Any arrangement of the words would create difficulties, so we just settled on "oldest" to ÿoungest" for this list (the original sequence is revised from time to time in the light of new evidence, such as the material in The Lexicon of Proto Oceanic, Volume 3) -- use the ^F (find) command on your browser if you are searching for a particular word (including the botanical binomials [scientific names]). Also note that the Proto-Polynesian name (or the equivalent from the earliest stage after that, for more recent words) is the one listed in the first column; this is actually stage 7 in our scheme, so the original form of words in stages 1-6 might have been different; you will find information about that in the entry for the Proto-Polynesian reconstruction.

Names that seem to have been inherited in a modified form incorporating an older element have been listed separately at the level the new form seems to have appeared, so, for example, pōhutukawa, which incorporates the ancient element *futu (Stage 1), seems to have originated as a separate name in Rarotonga, so in the list below it is included with the words from the final stage (12) before Aotearoa's linguistic isolation.

Some of the plants in addition to their generic names had a large number of terms relating to varieties and uses. Chief among these are the breadfruit (Proto-Polynesian *kulu), taro (Proto Polynesian *talo), bamboo (Proto-Polynesian *kofe, from which Maori kohe originated), and kumara (Proto Eastern Polynesian *kumala). The history of many such words which are plant-related but not always plant names is recorded on those and other pages.

As the pages are written, the corresponding words in the list will be hyperlinked to them. Those items in first two columns in the list below which are written in bold type have entries on line; some of these hyperlinked pages with have only basic information at present, others will be quite substantial. Names represented by species which are currently growing in the physical language garden but for which pages have not yet been written are listed in bold black type in the third column. For kumara and taro varieties, the linked names will be in italics -- this means that although some plants of this species are in the garden, that particular variety (as far as we know) is not. As the relevant pages are written, more Maori names containing elements inherited from earlier Polynesian plant names will be added to the list (we are still coming across previously overlooked examples!). Botanical names also require revision, as new research sometimes requires changes in the way plants are grouped in genera and families, and occasionally new names for species as well.

A suggested formula for citing these pages is given at the end of this page.

[Back to Introduction]

MĀORI PLANTS NAMES IN TE PAIPERA TAPU

There are at least 20 Māori plant names, as well as a few other words directly associated with plants, included in the Māori translation of the Bible. This is a marked contrast to translations into other Polynesian languages, which often simply adapt the Hebrew or Greek original to Polynesian phonology rather than substitute a local name referring to a plant with some physical or symbolic correspondence to the Hebrew or Greek word. Many of the Māori plant names have been inherited from earlier stages in the development of Te Reo, and we have included information about the Biblical use of these and a few locally sourced names on the relevant pages, with links here to the pages concerned. These are (bolded and hyperlinked), the pages featuring: aka; ake; hue; kakaho; karamū; kauri; korari; kōwhai; māhuri; maire [Cook Islands Māori]; manoao; mati [Samoan]; nīkau; ongaonga; pua; puāwai; pūwhā; rākau, ramarama; otaota; raupō; rengarenga; rimu; taro; taru; tatarāmoa; tumatakuru, wahie and wīwī.

MINIMALLY DEVELOPED PAGES

New pages with at least some photographs are listed in the first monthly news item after they appear, and included in the "Index of Names", above. Because of the time it takes to prepare an informative page, we also occasionally make available some with the basic etymological and botanical information, sometimes no photographs, and minimal text, along with a note to the effect that there is more to come, ā te wā. If you would like priority to be given to adding more information to any of these pages you happen to come across please let us know, and we will do our best to push it further along in the queue!

CITATION

Some pages have citation information included at the bottom of the page immediately below the acknowledgement of the photographs. Unless otherwise stated, other pages may be cited using this formula (based on that used by the NZPCN):

R.A. Benton, (Year at time of access), “Page main heading” (web page periodically updated), Te Māra Reo, http://www.temarareo.org/Page-Name.html (Date website was queried).
For example:
R. A. Benton (2019) “*Fara” (web page periodically updated), Te Māra Reo. http://www.temarareo.org/PPN-Fara.html (17 October 2019).

[Page updated 23 October 2024]