As my thoughts wandered on the commute to work this morning I’m reminded of a conversation I had with my dad whose early childhood was spent in Manu’a on ‘Ofu in his mother’s village directly across from the micro island of Nu’utele — the site where the Fo’isia Warrior rock formation is found (such a plethora of legends abound in these islands!)
We were talking about the name of the demigod Māui in relation to the legend of Tagaloa-a-Ui, the ancestor of the Tuimanu’a lineage of sacred chiefs. I asked him what the name meant and he gave me a list of various meanings:
it’s a greeting Manu’a people use to each other
a type of banana
a cluster of coconuts
Dad added that the meaning changes depending on how the vowels are accented or lengthened.
For example: Mā (long vowel /a/) followed by Ui suggested a combination of MA “ability” and ‘AUI which Dad explained means “to wind around, to bind up or wrap up like a bandage and so it can mean ‘to heal’ or ‘healer’”.
Dad thought the demigod’s name meant “strong enough to bind together”, or “ability to heal” suggesting several things—that Māui was a healer of some kind, or it was a reference to his ability to sail and hold the island political and familial bonds together between far-flung island groups.
Looking at the Hawaiian dictionary, a note in the entry mentions: “although associated with the island of Maui, the god’s name contains a long ā” and suggests that the name comes from Proto-Polynesian “*maaui”.
That’s MA + ‘AUI.
Another meaning of ‘AUI is “ten (10)” but only as a counter for tallying up bonito fish, an ancient staple of the Polynesian diet.
Why does this matter?
Māui was a fisherman.
Māui fished up islands.
Lagi means “heaven”, but it can also mean “mountain” or “chief”, which are both at the center of island life.
There are usually 10 legendary realms (“Lagi”) in Polynesian cosmology: Lagi-Tua-Tasi (“1st heaven” / “1st paramount chief”) through to the ninth heaven / ninth paramount chief and beyond that the tenth unknowable, extremely tapu realm of Tagaloa-a-Lagi / Tagaloa-Nimonimo where none go.
This is a metaphor:
Ten fish for ten Lagi
Ten islands groups
Ten mountains
Ten paramount chiefs.
And THE Māui was “able to bind them”.
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