Tane

See also: Appendix:Variations of "tane"

English

Carving of Tane at Auckland Zoo

Alternative forms

• Tāne (especially Maori mythology)

Etymology

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Proper noun

Tane

1. (Polynesian mythology, Maori mythology) The god of forests and trees; brother of Tangaroa, Rongo and others.

   Synonyms: (Maori mythology) Tāne-mahuta, Tāne-nui-a-Rangi, Tāne-te-waiora

   • 1986 [1979, W. H. Smith & Sons (Windward)], Arthur Cotterell, A Dictionary of World Mythology, Oxford University Press, page 270,

     One of the great conflict myths in Polynesia was the struggle between [the sky god] Atea and Tane-mahuta, which the Maoris conceived of as the separation of the sky father from the earth mother, Rangi and Papa respectively. The Tuamotu islanders believed that Atea tried to capture the young god Tane, and sent a host of lesser deities after him. After Tane escaped from his pursuers on earth and wandered the clouds, he became so hungry that he killed and ate one of his ancestors, which was the beginning of cannibalism. On reaching manhood, Tane declared war on the sky god and, using the thunderbolts of his ancestor Fatu-tiri, 'thunder', he slew Atea.

   • 1995 [1994, The Encyclopedia of Creation Myths, ABC-CLIO], David Adams Leeming, Margaret Adams Leeming, A Dictionary of Creation Myths, Oxford University Press, page 228,

     The various offspring of Rangi and Papa, led by the forest god, Tane, and the ocean god, Tangaroa, argued over what to do. Some chose to go to land, others chose going out to sea. Tane gave his children canoes and nets so they might catch the children of Tangaroa, and sometimes Tangaroa swallowed up Tane’s people. It is still this way today between the children of Tane and Tangaroa.

   • 2004, Lorena Laura Stookey, Thematic Guide to World Mythology, Greenwood Press, page 88:

     According to the [Maori] myth ,Tane, the Polynesian god of the forests, first separates earth and sky and then creates his wife from the red clay that contains his parents' blood. Tane and his wife, the first woman in the world, give birth to a daughter Hine Titama, and when Tane and Hine Titama also give birth to children, they become the ancestors of the Maori people.

2. (Tahitian mythology) The god of peace and beauty.

Further reading

• Tāne Mahuta on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Japanese

Romanization

Tane

1. Rōmaji transcription of たね