Aotearoa – a name that is used to refer to all of New Zealand today although historically, to Maori, it refers to the North Island only as the South Island was called Te Waipounamu. Aotearoa means ‘the land of the long white cloud’ given by those who first set eyes on these islands. Ao = cloud, tea = white, roa = long.

Eketahuna – a small town near Pukaha Mt Bruce whose name translates to mean ‘to run aground on a sandbank’.

Eponymous (ancestor) – used to describe the person from which a tribe has chosen to take their name from e.g. Rangitaane (iwi), Campbell (clan).

Hapu – describes a political level of Maori. Prior to the arrival of Europeans there were no iwi just hapu. Hapu is a collective of whänau or families that share a common ancestor i.e. Ngati Hamua is a collective of family lines that can all trace back to the ancestor Hamua. The term hapu also means pregnant.

Ika – fish.

Iwi – iwi are a level up from hapu. Therefore they are a collective of hapu who again share a common ancestor i.e. Rangitaane iwi are a collection of many interrelated hapu. The term iwi is taken from the longer word ‘koiwi’, which are skeletal bones. This refers to one’s dead ancestors, again confirming an ancestral connection to each other.

Kaitiaki – means guardian or to look after.

Kaitiakitanga – means the act of guardianship.

Maori – name given to the indigenous people of New Zealand.

Maunga – mountain or mountains.

Mauri – refers to a belief that everything has a special life-force.

Nui – great or big.

O – When used in a name this means ‘of’ i.e. Te Tapere Nui o Whatonga or ‘the great forest of Whatonga’.

Pa – a pa is a settlement or village, a collection of houses and specialised buildings such as pataka or food storage hut.

Papatuanuku – (or Papa for short) is the name given to the Earth Mother. In Maori mythology, Papatuanuku was entwined with Ranginui (the sky father) and gave birth to many deities or gods each one of which had a particular departmental duty (see Tanemahuta). Papa is the earth personified, the trees are her cloak, the soil is her skin, and the waterways are her arteries and veins.

Pukaha – ‘pu’ means ‘blow’ and ‘kaha’ means ‘strong’. It refers to the strong winds prevalent in the northern Wairarapa.

Rangiwhakaoma – the original name for Castlepoint – it can translate to mean ‘the place to stand to see the running sky’ referring to the wind at the coast - ‘rangi = sky, whaka = place or stand, and oma = to run’.

Rohe – a defined area that relates to an iwi or a hapu.

Rua – means ‘hole’ or ‘ridge’. i.e. Tararua means ‘the ranges of Tara’.

Runanga – a contemporary word that means an organisation that represents the descendants of a particular ancestor at the iwi level.

Tanemahuta – or Tane is the god of the forest.

Tapere – forest.

Te Upoko o te Ika a Maui – translates to mean ‘The Head of the Fish of Maui’, which refers to the Maori legend of Maui who fished up the North Island of New Zealand and the Wellington, Wairarapa and Kapiti area form the head of Maui’s fish. Presupposes the idea that Maori could visualise the shape of the North Island as being in the shape of a fish.

Te Waipounamu – a name given to the South Island with reference to the greenstone (jade) found there.

Waewae – legs.

Waka – means ‘canoe’ but also refers to the ancestral migrations or the original migrations of the first Maori that arrived in Aotearoa. Therefore waka can also refer to a genealogical connection between several tribes i.e. the Kurahaupo waka is a collection of several tribes including Ngai Tara, Rangitaane, Muaupoko and many others.

Whakapapa – genealogy or the art of tracing ones familial linkages back to a common ancestor. An integral part of Maori culture with many able to trace their lineage back 25 or more generations.

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