Aotearoa
English
Etymology
Borrowed from Maori Aotearoa (“long white cloud; North Island; New Zealand”), see there for more.
Pronunciation
- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /ˌɑːəʊtiːəˈɹəʊ.ə/
- (General American) IPA(key): /ˌɑ.oʊtiəˈɹoʊ.ə/
- (General New Zealand) IPA(key): /ˈæoteəɹɐʉ.ɘ/, /-tiə-/
Aotearoa (New Zealand) (file)
Proper noun
Aotearoa
- (chiefly New Zealand, obsolete) The North Island of New Zealand.
- 1855, Sir George Grey, Polynesian mythology and ancient traditional history of the New Zealand race: as furnished by their priests and chiefs:
- he found in the sea this island Aotearoa (the northern island of New Zealand), and he thought he would land there.
- 1855, Sir George Grey, Polynesian mythology and ancient traditional history of the New Zealand race: as furnished by their priests and chiefs:
- (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.
- 1981, Split Enz, Six Months in a Leaky Boat:
Synonyms
- (North Island): North Island
- (New Zealand): Aotearoa New Zealand, New Zealand
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
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/