Aotearoa

English

Wikipedia

Etymology

From Maori Aotearoa (“long white cloud; North Island; New Zealand”), 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.

Original name known by the indigenous Polynesian population as 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

• Aotearoa (New Zealand)

  (file)

• (native) IPA: [ˈaoteaˌɾoa], /ˈaʊtɛəˌrəʊə/
• (New Zealand) IPA: [ˈæoteəˌɹɐʉɘ], [ˈæotiəˌɹɐʉɘ]

Proper noun

Aotearoa

1. (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.

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

• (North Island): North Island
• (New Zealand): Aotearoa New Zealand, New Zealand

Derived terms

• Aotearoan

See also

• Kiwi

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

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

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Maori

Pronunciation

• X-SAMPA: /"aOtea"rOa/

Proper noun

Aotearoa

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