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Maori Storehouses and Kindred Structures
Native Terms not Fully Explained in the Text
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Native Terms not Fully Explained in the Text
| Aka: | Generic term applied to stems of climbing-plants. |
| Aka-tokai, aka-kuku, aka-tororaro: | Three species of climbing-plants having pliant, tough stems, used for binding purposes. |
| Atua: | Spirit; demon; any object of superstitious regard. |
| Kumara (Ipomoea batatas): | Sweet-potato. The principal cultivated food product of the Maori in former times. |
| Maihi: | The facing-boards of a house-gable (barge-boards). |
| Manaia: | Name of a pattern of carving; a weird and grotesque figure of the unicorn type. The origin of this conventionalized figure is said to be a denizen of the ocean. |
| Manuka (Leptospermum scoparium): | Bark much used for roofing huts, &c. |
| Marae: | The plaza or open space in a native village, or open space before a house. |
| Pa: | A fortified village. |
| Pae kai awha, or paepae kai awha: | The outer threshold of a house; the plank across the front of the porch. |
| Parata: | Carved wooden head placed over joint of barge-boards on a native house. |
| Pataka whakairo: | An elevated storehouse adorned externally with carvings. |
| Patu: | Short weapons wielded in one hand, made of stone or bone, occasionally of wood. |
| Poupou: | The vertical slab-like posts of the walls of a native house. |
| Puhi: | This term was applied to a girl or young woman of rank chosen by a clan as a combined pet and chieftainess, and who was carefully nurtured, protected, and respected, nor allowed the usual intercourse with young men, her marriage being a tribal arrangement. |
| Punanga; whare punanga: | Huts erected among the branches of trees, and used as hiding places by non-combatants in time of war. |
| Rua: | Hole; pit; cave. Herein used with various qualifying terms as denoting various kinds of pit stores. |
| Tamawahinetia: | Denotes the performance of a curious ceremony whereby the tapu was taken off any object. |
| Tapurangi: | A term applied by some tribes to a low platform erected on the village plaza, and used as a seat or lounging-place. |
| Taro (Colocasia antiquorum): | Formerly cultivated by the Maoripage xii |
| Tautiaki: | The slab-like posts supporting the lower ends of barge-boards of a Maori house. Also termed amo maihi. |
| Tekoteko: | Carved wooden figure in human form on gable of a house or pataka. Sometimes both parata and tekoteko so used, in which case the latter is placed above the parata. |
| Toenga kai: | Remains of food after a meal. Such remains from the meals of a tapu person had to be very carefully dealt with. |
| Totara (Podocarpus totara): | Bark used for roofing purposes and in many other ways. |