Maori Words

Front 1

aroha

Back 1

1. caring, compassionate love for others, especially relatives; also used to convey 2. sympathy for those in sorrow or trouble; 3. gratitude; 4. approval

Front 2

iwi

Back 2

1. bone; 2. stone of fruit; 3. people, as in te iwi kainga (the local people); 4. a large-scale socio-political grouping defined by descent from a named ancestor, usually translated as ‘tribe’

Front 3

kaumatua

Back 3

1. adult; 2. in past, the head of a whanau; 3. a male or female person of senior social status, knowledgeable about tikanga Maori; 4. a male or female person of grandparental or equivalent age

Front 4

mana

Back 4

1. power originating in the spiritual realm “conferred from above (i.e. by the gods) and endorsed from below” (i.e. by the people); 2. authority stemming from the indwelling of spiritual power; 3. prestige, standing; 4. proven ability to do and get things done

Front 5

marae

Back 5

1. open space in front of a meeting house, described as the marae atea; 2. combination of marea atea with meeting-house, dining hall, and related buildings on land reserved for the purpose, usually associated with a hapu and used for communal gatherings; sometimes identified as a marae complex (also adj meaning generous or hospitable)

Front 6

mua

Back 6

1. of place, the front; of time, the past

Front 7

muri

Back 7

1. of place, the back, behind; of time, the future

Front 8

rahui

Back 8

1. a mark indicating tapu, often attached to a post, used to warn against trespass or to temporarily protect natural resources; 2. a public ban on particular action e.g. using particular resources, ingesting dangerous substances

Front 9

rangatahi

Back 9

1. a certain kind of fishing net about 10 fathoms long; 2. key metaphor in the proverb “the worn out one is cast aside, the new rangatahi goes fishing) – used originally to refer to replacement of dead chief by new chief, adapted at end of 19th century to refer to replacement of old-style Maori leaders by leaders of a new kind (young, educated, bilingual; i.e. Apirana Ngata), further adapted to apply to ‘young people’

Front 10

rangatira

Back 10

1. members of senior descent-lines in hapu or iwi, constituting the aristocracy; 2. chief of a hapu, chosen on basis of senior descent and leadership capacity = the rangatira; 3. captain (of a ship)

Front 11

tikanga

Back 11

1. rule, plan, method; 2. customary way of doing something; 3. anything normal or usual; 4. reason; 5. meaning; 6. purpose – Nga tikanga Maori = Maori ways of thinking and doing

Front 12

tohunga

Back 12

1. specialist/expert, qualified by specialization; 2. commonly used without qualifier to refer to a Maori religious expert who uses herbal medicines to heal or harm; 3. dismissively translated as medicine man, faith healer; 4. ritual expert in the Ringatu Church

Front 13

whakapapa

Back 13

intransitive verb meaning to place in layers; 1. descent line(s) tracing connection between ancestor(s) and descendants; 2. study and recital of descent lines and associated kinship linkages

Front 14

whanaungatanga

Back 14

kinship in the widest sense, including descendants of common ancestors, affines, and whangai

Front 15

whenua

Back 15

1. land = country; 2. ground, earth, above and below water; 3. placenta = afterbirth