The meaning of Kaitangata, from A.W. Reed’s classic Māori Place Names

The South Otago town of Kaitangata has been in the news of late after a massive global response to its efforts to attract new residents with an offer of cheap housing, plentiful jobs and a friendly community. 

What about its name? In a literal translation 'kai' means food and 'tangata' means people, so an origin that has to do with cannibalism is likely. One version is that after a battle fought over eeling rights in the vicinity, the chief Mokomoko was killed an eaten by the victors. A more savoury (if that's the right word) explanation is that it was named after an ancestor who travelled on the Arai-te-uru canoe. 

Discover the Māori names and their meaning in the fully revised edition of A.W. Reed’s classic Māori Place Names.

From the book Māori Place Names: the meaning of Whangaparāoa and Whāngārei

Whales were an important resource to pre-European Māori, and that’s reflected in several well-known names.

Whangaparāoa, the peninsula north of Auckland city, means Bay or harbour of sperm whales; whanga (harbour); parāoa (sperm whale).

Among the many explanations for the name Whāngārei is that it’s a shortened form of Whāngārei-terenga-parāoa: whanga (harbour); rei (rushing); terenga (place of swimming); parāoa (sperm whale).

Find these and many more definitions in Māori Place Names. For more about the book go to https://www.oratia.co.nz/product/maori-place-names/

A.W. Reed, author of Māori Place Names

A.W. Reed, author of Māori Place Names, played upon his surname when designing the logo for his publishing company, A.H. & A.W. Reed. The logo features the raupō, New Zealand’s native reed.

Raupō is also a place name – there are settlements of this name near Ruawai in Northland and inland from Greymouth – and the definition is included in the fourth edition. Revising editor Peter Dowling was himself a former publishing manager at Reed Publishing.

The late A.W. Reed

‪‎Māori Language Week‬ /‎Te Wiki o te Reo Māori‬ - Māori word of the day: te

The word te stands as a separate part of many place names – think Te Aroha, Te Kauwhata or Te Waipounamu. That’s no surprise when you understand that it means ‘the’ in Māori. So:

Te Aroha – ‘The love’, referring to the emotion felt here by the early traveller Kahumatamomoe

Te Mata – ‘The headland’

Te Waipounamu – ‘The greenstone waters’, the Māori name for the South Island

[IMAGE – Te Waipounamu]

Te Waipounamu, from the map featured in Māori Place Names

The fourth edition of Māori Place Names is out in good bookstores today

 

The book contains a list of words that commonly form part of Māori place names – among them manga, which means ‘stream, creek’.

Manga is found in names all over the country. One combination is Mangaweka, a place just south of Taihape. The weka is the New Zealand wood-hen – so Mangaweka means ‘Creek of the wood hens’.

This and other illustrations by celebrated artist James Berry featured in the early editions of the book, and have been brought back for the 2016 edition.

Māori Place Names marking Māori Language Week

Māori Language Week/Te Wiki o te Reo Māori is underway – and Oratia Books is marking the week by publishing the fully revised edition of A.W. Reed’s classic Māori Place Names tomorrow.

This fourth edition gives meanings and origins of over 2300 of the most important and widespread Māori names.

Each day this week we’ll explain one name or feature. Today’s is one of the most common – Wainui.

Wai means water; nui means big. So Wainui means ‘Big river, bay or expanse of water’.