The Rotorua region is connected with many other fascinating legends. Local tribes have kept their history and culture alive by passing on these legends orally from one generation to the other. These legends are the equivalent of the Puranic tales of India and their similarity indicates that the Maoris in all probability did arrive from India into the Polynesians triangle and then in New Zealand and gradually settled around the great lakes and waterbodies there.
Lake Rotomahana: We find that the Maori word for lake is 'roto'. It famously appears in the name Rotorua, but it is the name Rotomahana that helps us decode the etymology of the word roto. In the name Rotomahana, the word 'mahana' (महान) exists in its original Sanskrit form and means great or large or sacred. One may also arrive at the etymology of Maori 'roto', from Sanskrit 'srota', meaning a water source, or a spring or a lake. Rotomahana, more correctly Srotamahana therefore means 'great lake' or the 'sacred lake'.
The Maori dictionary gives the meaning of 'mahana' as 'cordial' or 'warm, but that is a slight deviation from its original Sanskrit meaning of great, and refers to the respect or reverence or hospitality offered to that which is recognized as great. The Maori word for respect is maanaki, which is derived from Sanskrit maan, (मान) with the same meaning.
However, this interpretation of 'mahana' does differ from the one given by Ferdinand Ritter von Hochstetter (1829 -1884), the German-Austrian geologist who had surveyed the Rotomahana site in great detail during the Novara expedition that he led. The New Zealand Ministry for Culture and Heritage gives a translation of "warm lake" for Rotomahana, following Hochstetter's translation when the surrounds of the lake had become world famous following its first European written description in 1843.
Mt. Terawera: Then there is Mt. Terawera located 24 kilometres southeast of Rotorua on the banks of a lake by the same name. Tara (तर) is a Sanskrit root word that means swim as well as tide. When extended to tarala (तरल), it takes the meaning of fluid. Vari (वारि) means water as mentioned above and river or mist. In Maori, water is wai though for some reason in the name Tarawera, the original Sanskritic vari or vara form is retained.
Sanskrit: kanik, very small.
Maori: kanehe, a trifle, anything small;
Sanskrit: kapa to shake, tremble
Sanskrit: mana to respect, revere, worship
Maori: manasa- mental, the mind, manawa- heart, breath
the seat and. mind. spirit, faculty of reasoning and feeling.
Sanskrit: muha, muhu to be foolish,
Sanskrit: purana-tales of past days; purakau-an old man, legend
puratan-ancient
Maori: puraku-an old man, a legend.
Sanskrit: puta-pure, purified, cleansed, etc.
Maori, puta -perform ceremonial cleansing from tapu
Sanskrit, ra: fire, heat, warmth, burning, scorching, love, desire, speed
Sanskrit, rewa, reva: to go, to move, to flow as a
Sanskrit: roma-water, a hole.
The name Rotorua seems to be derived from Sanskrit srota (स्रोत) meaning 'source of water' and rta (ऋत) or 'divine truth'. |
Lake Rotorua: About the suffix 'rua' in the name Rotorua, it is said that it stands for 'two' in the Maori language. It appears to be a distortion of the Sanskrit 'dvi' (द्वि) with the same meaning of 'two'. But since Rotorua is a sacred site one may look at two other Maori words which may be the source of 'rua' in the word Rotorua. One is 'wairua' which means 'spiritualism' and 'essence'. The other is 'tua' which means 'transcend'. These two words do more justice to the essence of the name Rotorua rather than the commonly accepted interpretation of 'Lake number two'. Of the two meanings, 'wairu' is more appropriate because 'wai' is Maori for 'water', and appears in the names of many water bodies, especially those that were heled sacred by the Maoris-such as Rtomahana. Also, 'ru' seems to have an association with the Rigvedic 'rta' (ऋत) meaning 'divine truth' and might be derived from it.
Mt. Terawera: Then there is Mt. Terawera located 24 kilometres southeast of Rotorua on the banks of a lake by the same name. Tara (तर) is a Sanskrit root word that means swim as well as tide. When extended to tarala (तरल), it takes the meaning of fluid. Vari (वारि) means water as mentioned above and river or mist. In Maori, water is wai though for some reason in the name Tarawera, the original Sanskritic vari or vara form is retained.
Tuporo: As for the name Tupora, the suffix in the name Tuporo is certainly a variation of the Sanskrit pura (पुर) meaning place, for Edward Tregear tells us in his book 'The Aryan Maori' that the syllable pa means settlement in Maori. The 'tapu' suffix in the name Tikatapu stands for 'sacred area' in Maori. Here, we can easily see that Sanskrit dvipa meaning island changes to tapu in Maori, just as it does in many Sanskrit derived languages like Hindi, where dvipa and tape both mean 'island'. As t and d are considered interchangeable sounds according to Grimm's Law of Sound Shift, it easy to understand how dvipa changes to tapu or how the Sanskrit 'danta' or Latin 'dente' change to 'teeth' in English.
In his article 'The impact of Languages and the Coalescence of the Fragments: A preliminary study in the affinities of the Maori language' published in the Journal of the Polynesian Society dated June 1946, author A.A. Lind had collated a list of Sanskrit and Maori words to show their similarity.
In his article 'The impact of Languages and the Coalescence of the Fragments: A preliminary study in the affinities of the Maori language' published in the Journal of the Polynesian Society dated June 1946, author A.A. Lind had collated a list of Sanskrit and Maori words to show their similarity.
Sanskrit: kanik, very small.
Maori: kanehe, a trifle, anything small;
Sanskrit: kapa to shake, tremble
Maori: to throb, palpitate
Sanskrit: sound
Maori: ku sound ku to make a low inarticulate sound
Sanskrit: kora bud, korak - bud, the fibres of the
stalk of a lotus.
Maori: korare: (noun) greens, leaves of edible vegetables, (verb)- to pluck
Sanskrit: kora bud, korak - bud, the fibres of the
stalk of a lotus.
Maori: korare: (noun) greens, leaves of edible vegetables, (verb)- to pluck
Sanskrit: mana to respect, revere, worship
Maori: manasa- mental, the mind, manawa- heart, breath
the seat and. mind. spirit, faculty of reasoning and feeling.
Sanskrit: muha, muhu to be foolish,
Maori: muhu - stupid, untaught
be incapable of discrimination, to be bereft of sense and wisdom
Sanskrit: nakh, naksh - to go, to move,
Maori: naki- glide with an even motion to approach.
Sanskrit: pa air, wind.
be incapable of discrimination, to be bereft of sense and wisdom
Sanskrit: nakh, naksh - to go, to move,
Maori: naki- glide with an even motion to approach.
Sanskrit: pa air, wind.
Maori: pa - to blow as the wind
Sanskrit: pawak-fire or its deified personificatiin
Sanskrit: pawak-fire or its deified personificatiin
Maori: pau- consumed, exhausted
pawa- smoke, pahunu-to burn, fire
Sanskrit: purana-tales of past days; purakau-an old man, legend
puratan-ancient
Maori: puraku-an old man, a legend.
Sanskrt: pura, puri- to satisfy, fill.
Maori: purena-to be brimful, run over
Sanskrit: puta-pure, purified, cleansed, etc.
Maori, puta -perform ceremonial cleansing from tapu
puta-to come, come forth, come out, appear, come into sight; to be born; Maria, puta, put.
Sanskrit, ra: fire, heat, warmth, burning, scorching, love, desire, speed
Maori, ra: the sun rar: expose to the heat of fire, dry, scorch.
Sanskrit, rewa, reva: to go, to move, to flow as a
river.
Maori, rewa: to melt, be or become liquid, get under
way.
way.
Maori: roma-current, stream, flood, channel
Sanskrit: taka, taki- to bind.
Maori, taka- to fasten a fish-hook to a line, thread by
which the hook is fastened to the line
Sanskrit: tu to injure, hurt, kill, become full.
Maori: tu to fight with, to engage, be ignited, vehement, energetic, persistent.
Sanskrit: tu to injure, hurt, kill, become full.
Maori: tu to fight with, to engage, be ignited, vehement, energetic, persistent.
Sanskrit: phana or fana-to go, causal form to cause to go.
Maori: whana to travel, to come, to go
Sanskrit, wan?water, a cascade or fountain; wan?a
heavy sea, the rolling of water from wind.
heavy sea, the rolling of water from wind.
Maori, wai - water; moana waiwai?ocean, open sea;
Sanskrit, wara- to desire,
Sanskrit, wara- to desire,
covet, ask, obtain.
Maori, warn?desire;
Sanskrit, ware- water, a waterpot
Maori: wari- watery, applied to potatoes spoiled by
frost
frost
Sanskrit: waha-a bearer, porter, a carrier; wahan- a vehicle or conveyance of any kind
Maori: waha - to carry on the back, to raise up;
Maori: waha - to carry on the back, to raise up;
wahanga- a load, burden
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