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Grammar of the New Zealand Language

Chapter III. — Of the Nouns

page 16

Chapter III.
Of the Nouns.

Classes of Nouns in Respect to Origin.

Nouns in Maori may be comprised under three classes, primitive and derivative, and verbal.*

(a.) Nouns primitive are those which designate animals, plants, numbers, members of the animal body, some of the great objects of the natural world.

N.B.—It is often impossible to distinguish between primitive and derivative nouns.

(b.) Nouns derivative, which are altogether the most numerous, comprise,

1st. Nouns derived from verbs, i. e., the verb, in its simple form, used as a noun; e. g.,

  • He noho noa iho taku, it is a simple sitting of mine; I have no fixed object in stopping (here.)

  • He haere pai to haere? Is your going a good going, i. e., are you going with good intent?

(2.) Nouns derived from adjectives; e. g.,

  • He aha te pai o tena mea? what is the worth of that thing?

    * We are aware that verbal nouns should properly have been classed under derivative; but as we shall often have to speak of them as a distinct class, and as moreover they closely resemble, in some respects, the participal form of the verb, and are very frequently used instead of the finite verb itself, we have consulted our convenience in thus distingushing them.

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  • Keihea te pakaru, where is the broken place.

(3.) Nouns derived from adverbs and prepositions, e.g.

  • He kore rawa, it is nil.

  • Engari a reira e pai ana, there (or that place) is better.

  • Kua ki a roto, the inside is full. Parua a tua, coat the other side (with raupo.)

(4.) Compound Words. These are always formed by two words placed in immediate juxta-position, without any elision of either; e.g.

  • Hia kai, (desire food) hunger; mate moe, (craving sleep), sleepiness; hoa riri, (angry friend), enemy; mahi atawhai, (cherishing act, &c.) a cherishing, &c.; kai whakaako, (one that teaches) a teacher; kai whakamarie, (one that pacifies) a paeifier; tangata atua, a man having a God; tangata pakeha, a man having a European to live with him; he hunga kainga, a people having a place to reside on; ahu taonga (bent on gain) avariciousness; ahu whenua, (having the mind occupied with the earth) industriousness, or peaceableness; whenua rangatira, (a noble land, not disturbed by invasions) peace; houhanga rongo, making peace; ngakau whakakake, pride; he whare kore, (a no house) homelessness; he horoi kore (a no soap) soaplessness; whakaaro kore, thought lessness, &c

(c.) Verbal nouns are well worthy of the attention of the critical student. They are of very extensive uses in Maori, and a proper introduction of them will give animation and elegance to the sentence. The rules for their formation will be found hereafter. See verbs.

They are generally employed to denote time, place, object, means, or some accompaniment on, or relation of page 18 the act, or quality of the groand form.—Other uses of them will be mentioned in the syntax.

To set forth the various uses of the verbal noun hero would carry us beyond our limits. We shall therefore only give a few examples;—sufficient, however, we trust to lead the critical student into more extensive inquiry;

  • Ko tona moenga tena, that is where he slept.

  • Te pumautanga o te Whakaaro, the full assurance of hope; te whakangarungarunga o te wai, the troubling of the water.

  • Te peheatenga i meatia ai, the manner in which it was done.

  • Te patunga poaka, the place where the pigs are killed.

  • Kahore aku kete kumara hei whakahokinga atu mo to puka, I have no basket of kumara with which to send back, (i e., to pay for the loan of) your spade.

  • I to hanganga o te ao, when the world was made.

  • I ana inoinga, in his prayers, (i.e., when he prayed.) Ko tona kiteatanga tenei, this is the opportunity for looking for, or seeing, it.

  • To tatou nuinga, the rest of our party. I taku oranga, while I live.

Note.—Instanees will sometimes occur in which the simple root, or the verbal form, may be indifferenfly used in the sentence. The critical student, however, will generally be able to see the reason; e.g., te here o tona hu, the thong of his shoe; te herenga o tona hu, the holes, &c., by which the thong is fatened.

Proper Names should, perhaps, have been classed under the head of derivatives nouns.

They are epithets arbitrarily assumed, as among the Hebrews, from some circumstance, quality, act, or thing. Sometimes they are simple; e. g., ko te Tawa, Tawa (a tree). Sometimes compound; e. g., Tangikai, cry page 19 for food. They are generally known by a prefixed; when a is not prefixed, by the context.

Note.—Sometimes we meet with English appellatives employed as appellatives in Maori, but with the form peculiar to proper names; e. g., a mata, the mistress; a pepi, the, baby; a te kawana, the governor. These, however, must be regarded as solecisms, and as in no way supported by Maori analogy.*

We sometimes also meet with a Maori proper name employed as an appelative; i. e., If an individual of a particular district has been remarkable for any quality, his name will often be predicated of any other in whom the same feature of character is discernible: thus, Ropeti, of Waikato, was remarkable for making a great show of hospitality:—hence, to any person else who has been detected acting in a similar way, it will be said, Ko Ropeti, There is Ropeti.

As all these terms are necessarily limited in their use to a particular district, we need not notice them further.

* It is true, that we have mentioned (Chap. II. § 6 notes) a few cases which might seem to warrant such a use. But those clearly belong to different class.

Of Gender, Number, and Case.

Maori, we may premise, admits of no such thing as declension by inflection, i. e., by a variation of the ground form. All the relations, it is capable of expressing, are denoted by words, or particles, prefixed or post-fixed to the noun.

Gender of Nouns.—Distinctions of gender are but seldom recognized in Maori, Only two are ever noticed, viz., the masculine and feminine. These are always expressed by different words, e.g.

Male. Female.
Matua or Papa, father. Whea, mother.
Tamaiti or Tamaroa, son. Tamahine or Koiro, daughter.
Tungane, brother of a female. Tuahine, sister of a man.page 20
Autane, brother-in-law of a female Auwahine, sister-in-law of the mon.
Tangats, man. Wahine, woman.
Koroheke, old man. Ruruhi, old woman.
Tourahi and Toa, male of brute animals. Uwhine, femeale.
Tane, a male, mostly of the human Wahine, female. species.

In salutation, the sex of the person is almost always denoted by the address, e.g.

To the man. To the female.
E hoa, friend! E kui, E tai to the married woman.
E pa, friend E kui, E tai to the married woman.
E mara, friend E kui, E tai to the married woman.
E koro, friend
E kara, friend E ko, E Hine to the girl.
E Ta, friend E ko, E Hine to the girl.
E Hika friend E ko, E Hine to the girl.

Note 1.—It should, however, be noted that these modes of address will vary in different Districts. Thus in Waikato E Tai ami E ko are often addressed to the male, and E kui to the girl— again also, tane and wahine will be of en found applied to the brute creation, and rourahi, in Waikato, is most frequently applied to the gelding.

Note 2.—The speaker should notice that the relationship of individuals of the same sex is designated by the same terms as the corresponding ones of the opposite sex; e.g.

John's Mary's
elder brother, is Tuakana, elder sister is Tuakana.
younger brother, teina. younger sister, teina.
brother-in-law. taokete. sister-in-law, taokete.

The distinction of sex in the other branches, is generally designated by tane and wahine post-fixed to the relation; e.g.,

  • hunaonga wahine, daughter-in-law.

  • hungawai tane, father-in-law.

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Number —Substantives in Maori have two numbers, singular and plural.

The singular is known by the singular articles te, and tetahi, or by one of the singular pronouns connected with the noun; e.g.

  • Te whare o Hone, the house of John.

  • Toku paraikete, my blanket.

The plural is known by (1) nga, e tahi, or (2) one of the plural or dual pronouns preceding the noun; e.g.

  • nga wahine, the women,

  • aku tupuna, my forefathers.

(3.) Sometimes the plural is designated by o, without te preceding the noun; e.g.

  • kei o Hone matua pea, with John's uncles, perhaps.

(4.) In a few cases we meet with an alteration in the ground form; e.g.

  • Tamaiti, son; Tamariki, sons, or children.

(5.) In some trissvllables, the first syllable of the plural is pronounced long; as in matua, tupuna, wahine, tangata.

Note.—Examples of these two latter heads are not of frequent eccurrence.

(6.) We frequently meet with ma joined to the proper name, in a sense corresponding to hoi amphi, and hoi peri in Greek, to denote the person and his company: e.g.,

  • Kei a Kukutai ma, with Kukutai and his party.

(7.) Sometimes also ma is in the same sense postfixed to appellatives; e.g.,

  • E mara ma! E hoa ma! E ko ma!

(8.) Sometimes an act oft repeated, or many things of the same kind are denoted by a reduplication of one or more syllables e.g.

  • Kakata, a frequent laughing.

  • Mamahi, over-work.

  • Kimokimo, a winking of the eyes.

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Case.—The distinction of case in Maori is exceedingly simple. As it is not the character of the language to decline either nouns or adjectives by a variation of the termination, it is evident that, in this respect, Maori is altogether different from Greek and Latin. Are we then to adopt the cases that those languages so clearly need? We are aware that some contend for them. But we are also assured that their adeption would be, not only useless but often exceedingly perplexing.

It is true that prepositions may be found in Maori, a well as in English, that correspond with the eases that are to be found in those languages. But that, we submit, is not the question. Our business, we conceive should be, to inquire how the dependence of words on each other is denoted in Maori, and then look out for a system that will meet, not a few selected cases, but all the various possible conditions.

Now, in Maori, the different connexions and relations of one thing to another are denoted by prepositions; there are upwards of twenty prepositions; and these are capable of being much increased in number by combination with each other; an having distinct meanings, different relations, and therefore distinct cases. Are all these then to be reduced to the six cases of Latin? Those who please may make the experiment with the following; kei runga i te pouaka, kei te kainga, ho atu ki a ia, me titiro atu ki a ia, patua ia ki te rakau, hei tua i te whare, &c.

The simple and comprehensive cases of Murray's English Grammar seem therefore the best adapted for Maori, though we will confess that our own judgment is against allowing any possesive case to Maori.

In English, it is true, that case may be recognised; because the ground form undergoes a change to denote it. Even in Hebrew, something analogous also might be admitted. But in Maori the possessive case is expressed, like all the other oblique cases, by a preposition. It may indeed be said, that in the pronouns we find a possessive formed by inflection. But this might justly be questioned: for it is very probable that noku, and naku, are compounds of no oku and na aku, and, when a native speaks slowly, it may be observed that he pronounces those words as if so spelt.

1. What is called the accusative case in Latin is most frequently denoted by i. This particle is different from the preposition i, and is only employed to denote the passing on of the action of the verb to the noun; e g., Ko wai hei keri i te mara? who is to dig the field? (vid. prepositions i.)

2. The vocative case is always denoted by e; e, g., E Hone! O John!