Aotearoa

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Maori Aotearoa (long white cloud; North Island; New Zealand), see there for more.

Pronunciation

Proper noun

Aotearoa

  1. (chiefly New Zealand, obsolete) The North Island of New Zealand.
  2. (chiefly New Zealand) New Zealand.
    • 1981, Split Enz, Six Months in a Leaky Boat:
      Aotearoa / rugged individual / glistens like a pearl at the bottom of the world [...].
    • 2009, Diarmaid MacCulloch, A History of Christianity, Penguin 2010, p. 877:
      The Maori in Aotearoa (the pair of major islands which Europeans have known as New Zealand) were part of the same oceanic culture.

Synonyms

Derived terms

See also

References

  • The Dictionary of New Zealand English: A Dictionary of New Zealandisms on Historical Principles, H. W. Orsman (editor), Oxford University Press (Auckland), 1997.
  • The New Zealand Oxford Dictionary, T. Deverson & G. Kennedy (editors), Oxford University Press (Victoria), 2005
  • The Penguin History of New Zealand, M. King, Penguin Books (Auckland), 2004

Hawaiian

Etymology

Borrowed from Maori Aotearoa in the 20th century.

Proper noun

Aotearoa

  1. New Zealand

Synonyms


Maori

Etymology

Possibly from ao (cloud, daytime, world) + tea (white) + roa (long, tall); often translated as “the land of the long white cloud”. Assuming this, is probably a reference to the appearance of mountainous land when seen on the horizon from a canoe after an ocean voyage. Originally was in reference to the North Island only. The first recorded mention of Aotearoa as a name for New Zealand as a whole was in 1898 in The Long White Cloud Ao-tea-roa by William Pember Reeves.

The original name known by the indigenous Polynesian population was Te Ika Nui A Maui or Te Ika-a-Māui, “The great fish of Maui”; from te (the) + ika (fish) + nui (big, great, large) + a (of) + Māui (a Polynesian demigod).

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /aɔˈtearɔa/

Proper noun

Aotearoa

  1. (obsolete) North Island (of New Zealand)
  2. New Zealand

Portuguese

Proper noun

Aotearoa f

  1. Aotearoa (Maori name of New Zealand)

Synonyms

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