Analysis of information sources in references of the Wikipedia article "Aotearoa" in English language version.
pron. as per Macq. Dict.
In fact in the pre-European era, Maori had no name for the country as a whole. Polynesian ancestors came from motu or islands and it was to islands that they gave names.
The other thing you talk about in your book is the word, the name "Aotearoa" and you say that in fact pre European, Maori did not actually call this place Aotearoa? King: There were some Maori tribes that had a tradition that the North Island had been called Aotea and Aotearoa but the two writers who popularised the Aotearoa name and the story of Kupe associated with it, were a man called Stephenson Percy-Smith and William Pember-Reeves and in a school journal in particular, it went into every school in the country in the early 20th century, they used Percy-Smith's material and the story about Kupe and Aotearoa said this is a wonderful name and its a wonderful story, wouldn't it be great if everybody called New Zealand, Aotearoa. And the result was that Maori children went to school.. We had a pretty extensive education system both in general schools and in the native school system.. And they learnt at school that the Maori name of New Zealand was Aotearoa and that's how it became the Maori name.
The first we hear of this Uenuku in Maori story is, that he was living at a place named Aotea-roa (the same name as New Zealand—a point worth noting) which, from what follows was Tahiti, where indeed his grandfather and great-grandfather held lands, until the former was expelled by Tu-tapu at the point of the spear; but even then the great-grandfather, Kau-ngaki (Kahu-ngaki in Maori), remained there and no doubt kept "the fire burning" on their ancestral lands.
In fact in the pre-European era, Maori had no name for the country as a whole. Polynesian ancestors came from motu or islands and it was to islands that they gave names.
pron. as per Macq. Dict.
The first we hear of this Uenuku in Maori story is, that he was living at a place named Aotea-roa (the same name as New Zealand—a point worth noting) which, from what follows was Tahiti, where indeed his grandfather and great-grandfather held lands, until the former was expelled by Tu-tapu at the point of the spear; but even then the great-grandfather, Kau-ngaki (Kahu-ngaki in Maori), remained there and no doubt kept "the fire burning" on their ancestral lands.
The other thing you talk about in your book is the word, the name "Aotearoa" and you say that in fact pre European, Maori did not actually call this place Aotearoa? King: There were some Maori tribes that had a tradition that the North Island had been called Aotea and Aotearoa but the two writers who popularised the Aotearoa name and the story of Kupe associated with it, were a man called Stephenson Percy-Smith and William Pember-Reeves and in a school journal in particular, it went into every school in the country in the early 20th century, they used Percy-Smith's material and the story about Kupe and Aotearoa said this is a wonderful name and its a wonderful story, wouldn't it be great if everybody called New Zealand, Aotearoa. And the result was that Maori children went to school.. We had a pretty extensive education system both in general schools and in the native school system.. And they learnt at school that the Maori name of New Zealand was Aotearoa and that's how it became the Maori name.
In fact in the pre-European era, Maori had no name for the country as a whole. Polynesian ancestors came from motu or islands and it was to islands that they gave names.
