Aotearoa
English
Etymology
Borrowed from Maori Aotearoa (“long white cloud; North Island; New Zealand”), see there for more.
Pronunciation
- (New Zealand) IPA(key): /aʊ.tɪəˈrɐʉ.a/, (prescribed) IPA(key): /aʊ.teəˈroː.a/
Audio (NZ) (file)
- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /ˌɑː.əʊ.teəˈrəʊ.ə/
- (General American) IPA(key): /ˌɑ.oʊ.tiəˈroʊ.ə/
- (General Australian) IPA(key): /aʊˌtæɪ.əˈrɐʉ.ə/
Proper noun
Aotearoa
- (chiefly New Zealand, obsolete) The North Island of New Zealand.
- Synonym: North Island
- 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.
- (chiefly New Zealand) New Zealand, especially seen in a Polynesian or pre-colonial context.
- Synonyms: Aotearoa New Zealand, New Zealand
- 1981, Tim Finn, Split Enz (lyrics and music), “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, page 877:
- The Maori in Aotearoa (the pair of major islands which Europeans have known as New Zealand) were part of the same oceanic culture.
- 2020, Sujit Sivasundaram, Waves Across the South, William Collins 2021, p. 10:
- There then arose a triangle of settlement across the vast Pacific, which had as its points Hawai‘i, Rapa Nui and Aotearoa.
- 2021 October 16, Kelly, Lidia, “New Zealand vaccinates 2.5% of its people in a day in drive to live with COVID-19”, in William Mallard, editor, Reuters, archived from the original on 16 October 2021, Asia Pacific:
- New Zealand vaccinated at least 2.5% of its people on Saturday as the government tries to accelerate inoculations and live with COVID-19, preliminary health ministry data showed.
Through an array of strategies, gimmicks and Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern's encouragement through the day, 124,669 shots were administered by late in the day in a country of 4.9 million.
"We set a target for ourselves, Aotearoa, you've done it, but let's keep going," Ardern said, using a Maori name for New Zealand at a vaccination site, according to the Newshub news service. "Let's go for 150 [thousand]. Let's go big or go home."
- For more quotations using this term, see Citations:Aotearoa.
Derived terms
- Aotearoan
See also
- Kiwi
Further reading
- H. W. Orsman, editor (1997) The Dictionary of New Zealand English: A Dictionary of New Zealandisms on Historical Principles, Auckland: Oxford University Press
- T. Deverson; G. Kennedy, editors (2005) The New Zealand Oxford Dictionary, Victoria: Oxford University Press
- M. King (2004) The Penguin History of New Zealand, Auckland: Penguin Books
Hawaiian
Etymology
Unadapted borrowing from Maori Aotearoa in the 20th century.
Pronunciation
IPA(key): /ao̯.te.a.ˈro.a/
Proper noun
Aotearoa
- New Zealand (a country in Oceania)
- Synonyms: Aokealoa, Nukilani
See also
- Aokealoa
Maori
Alternative forms
- Ao-tea-roa
Etymology
Possibly from ao (“cloud, daytime, world”) + tea (“white”) + roa (“long, tall”); often translated as “the land of the long white cloud” (the assumption presumably being that the phrase referred to a mountainous land seen on the horizon from a canoe, after an ocean voyage). The term may have originally referred to the North Island only.
The original name used by the indigenous Polynesian population was 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
- IPA(key): /aɔˈtearɔa/
Proper noun
Aotearoa
- (obsolete) North Island (of New Zealand)
- New Zealand
- The Māori name for the national anthem of New Zealand, God Defend New Zealand
Derived terms
- Aotearoa Tuatahi
- Ara Poutama Aotearoa
- Ararau Aotearoa
- Kaunihera Māori o Aotearoa
- Mana Arotake Aotearoa
- Mana Rapuara Aotearoa
- Paerewa Aotearoa
- Pāremata Aotearoa
- Penihana Aotearoa
- Pirihimana o Aotearoa
- Poirewa Aotearoa
- Rōpū Aotearoa Tuatahi
- Rōpū Ture o Aotearoa
- Tatauranga Aotearoa
- Toi Aotearoa
- Toi Māori Aotearoa
- Uruwhenua o Aotearoa
- Waka Rererangi Aotearoa
- Wānanga o Aotearoa
Further reading
- “Aotearoa” in John C. Moorfield, Te Aka: Maori-English, English-Maori Dictionary and Index, 3rd edition, Longman/Pearson Education New Zealand, 2011, →ISBN.
Portuguese
Proper noun
Aotearoa
- Aotearoa (Māori name of New Zealand)
- Synonym: Nova Zelândia