The other day I messaged our dear friend and kaiako, Tamiaho, about the kupu ‘Māori’. Because what does the word ‘Māori’ actually mean anyway?
Wrap your head around this question and answer session we had, as he responded to my query.
I’ve left our conversation in its raw form because I can not explain this any more clearly than Tamiaho did. And I hope the unfolding of this discussion will have the same impact on you as it did me. (In this discussion, I am the seedling🌱 and Tamiaho is the tree🌳.)
🌱Hey Tami, I was just wondering what your take is on the origin of the word Māori? I’ve heard different versions of its root and I’m curious.
🌳Maori means aboriginal. Given to us by pakeha whalers and sealers in around 1791-2. It was then formalised through the Treaty in 1840. What the word actually means to Maori though is much different. Hence it has been used out of context since 1791.
🌱I heard a wahine break it down and describe how it meant the enlightened ones. Is that the actual root of the word?
🌳No.
🌱Why did the whalers choose that word to use?
🌳Whalers were asked what the word for aboriginals & natives was. Maori was one of many results.
🌱ok, so Māori used it to describe themselves as opposed to the whalers?
🌳*Dialectical, the response was supposed to be Mauri not Maori
*(I had to check on my understanding of dialectal here so I thought I’d add it in incase it is you helpful for you too. Dialectic: The art or practice of arriving at the truth by the exchange of logical arguments. In other words, if we weigh up all the information and knowledge we have the assumption is that when Maori were asked who they were their response was Mauri as that is the only thing that logically makes sense.)
🌱ohhhh, so Māori is essentially a mispronunciation?
🌳No. Maori called ourselves Tainui, Kai Tahu, Maniapoto… according to our tribal identity. Maori is a random word taken out of context purely by a pakeha person grasping at definitions in a random conversation he had. Maori was never a term used ever all the thousands of years prior. It’s a random english definition
🌱I’ve also heard it was a mispronunciation of Maui. That is from Professor Matamua.
🌳Yes that is correct
🌳In the far north Maori means to be sick or diseased
🌱Ok, so it is a Maori word, but it doesn’t describe the people in any way? Unless you’re sick. And Māori most likely was a mispronounciaton of the word Maui or Mauri? Have I got that right?
🌱And Professor Matamua’s description of Māori calling themselves Maui is relevant to his iwi specifically I would assume?
🌳Yes, the tribal name of Tuhoe was also Ngai Maui (in reference to Professor Matamua’s korero).
Only the north refer to Maori as meaning sick.
🌱Ok. So Maori is not a word in any other dialect?
🌳In other parts Maori is pronounced exactly in that way, it just isn’t used to describe us as a people
🌱So it doesn’t actually mean ‘normal, usual or ordinary’ as the dictionary says?
🌳No, not at all. The word can mean: Welcoming, Earth, Nature.
More specifically we used the word to express inferior or unimportant things, like:
Dog is maori, an inferior creature.
Small tree as opposed to the large one, or
Whetu maori are unimportant stars.
🌱oh my heavens, so it’s completely derogatory!
🌳Yes.
This is why my grandparents hated the word & refused to say it, ever.
🌱Yes, absolutely! I wonder if it was a mispronunciation than or if it was completely intentional?
🌳A bit of both.
But certainly a sign of conscious bias in those days.
🌱Oh that makes me so sad!
oh man, you’ve once again blown my mind.
🌳Ka pai tuahine 
Is your mind blown to? What other questions does this revelation bring up for you? How does it make you feel? Trust me, there is more mind blowingness where this came from. Wait till I share with you what I have learnt about the origins of mihi. That conversation actually made me cry. I’m still trying to digest it. But I am getting ahead of myself. All in it’s own time eh.
Because I have been asked the question of who this person is and why we should listen to what he has to say here is the answer before the question is asked. Tamiaho is a dear friend and mentor of ours who was brought up by his grandparents, who passed on to him the wisdom and knowledge of all their tupuna before them.
If you need more than that, these are some of his credentials;
Masters of Indigenous Knowledge
Educationalist 20 years
Iwi Leader – Tainui Waikato, Maniapoto
TWoA Author of Ako Whakapapa & Kaitiakitanga Biculturalism
Go well whānau and, as always, considerate discussion is welcome. ✌🏾
Morganne rāua ko Timoti
⭐️EDIT: ⭐️
After I put this blog out in to the world one patai that came up time and again from Pākehā was;
“What would ‘Māori’ prefer to be called so that we don’t cause offense?”
So I began a very informal survey on that patai and here are the very unscientific results for you.
By far the majority of people I questioned said that their answer depended on who was asking it, or what their knowledge base was, to start with.
If the person in question was a Pākehā (New Zealander of non-Māori descent) and/or had some knowledge of iwi then the majority of Māori asked said that they were prefer to be communally referred to by their iwi group. For example, if Tim was asked what ethnicity he was he would reply Ngati Mahuta.
If the person asking the question had no knowledge of iwi then the second preferred ethnic identifier was ‘Māori’. Many Māori I asked had little to no knowledge of the origins of the word Māori. And even those few who did said that the original meaning of the word had altered with time, moving away from its negative roots to now be understood worldwide as the kupu that refers to the indigenous people of Aotearoa. 95% of Māori I spoke to were happy to reclaim the word and use it in a positive light going forward.
The third most preferred term was ‘Indigenous New Zealander’. This again would only be used in explanation to people who had no knowledge of iwi groups in Aotearoa.
So there you have it, from the people I spoke to in my informal survey, Māori would prefer to be described by their iwi if and when this is possible. Second best option is ‘Maori’ and third ‘Indigenous’.
Best practise really is to ask yourself if you can. From my experience people are always happy to help out those who are asking patai with genuinely good intent.
And if you are Māori and would like to add your thoughts to this blog please do comment below. We are all here reading this because we want to learn and be the best humans we can be to others and if using different kupu is the way forward then let’s begin!
⭐️If you want to jump on this waka and learn along with us head over here and sign up for our newsletter. We don’t send out thousands of ‘buy this’ annoying type emails and it’s a good year if I get an update out monthly! We just email you to let you know when we have written a new blog or have something to share that we think you might be interested in. Also email whānau do get first dips on limited edition pounamu treats and other goodies. 💌
Thank you so much for this amazing piece. It made me think a lot about how we define ourselves culturally and how, when, and why, the edge emerges – the point at which external forces (usually colonising) force a people, peoples, complex lineages, rich cultural heritiges and community existences to have to name and define themselves in some codified way that meets the needs of the oppressor, in both labelling and subjugation. And how, through lack of care to learn about different iwi, the “conscious bias” Tamioho speaks of perpetuated the dreadful cultural undermining through the derogatory interpretation. Thank you so much for this learning. I hope I’ve understood it correctly. Thank you for the definition of dialectical – I was about to websearch! And for the hyperlinked words. I’m slowly building up a personal dictionary of words from your language, and their meanings.
Thanks for taking the time to read and ponder on it Beccy. Great point about how we define ourselves and how those definitions are effected by external sources. It’s so important to think about these things and mull over all the different elements involved. Glad we can learn together!
Thank you so much for your reply! So glad we can learn together – yes!
Hello,
I have been interested in this subject for many years, hence these revelations are pertinent.
With all the historical research the indigenous peoples of NZ were undeniably East Polynesians,
so why not keep what is rightful. This land was discovered and settled by East Polynesians full stop.
My other worry was why our East Polynesians ancestors actually accepted the tag Maori, i read it was to identify the NZ aspect of the whole race as one culture in NZ. This was lead by Pakeha colonists. Maori up to this article was described as Ordinary, surely they would not accepted this tag? Is it true that both the words Maori and Aotearoa were never in the original Maori dictionary. ?
Kia ora David, Thank’s for your input. I would recommend reading some of the comments below, as they help to illustrate how complex this discussion is and how many different understandings there are of the kupu ‘Māori’. I have heard others since I wrote this blog post too. The original Māori dictionary was written by Pākehā so it may not be helpful to verify the validity of a word. I do know that the origin and meaning of Aotearoa also has some debate around it. Thanks for being a part of the discussion.
Hi, I just watched Scotty Morrison’s great documentary exploring the origin of the Māori people. He interviews Mike Tavioni in Rarotonga who tells him all about the meaning of the word “Māori”. The first part of the word means clean or pure, the second part “ori” means to move or migrate. He says it did not originate in New Zealand. Hope this information helps the discussion.
Ohh, that is fantastic Judy! Thanks so much for sharing that with us. We are watching the new season ourselves so will catch that.
These kupu are so interesting and teach us so much as we explore all the different answers and what they mean. We have found the kupu Pākehā to be just as intriguing.
Thanks so much for taking the time to read and respond
I thought I’d offer a different perspective on this kaupapa, if u look at our history through the British Empirical lense, and how they went about imposing their “Doctrine of Discovery” upon Indigenous peoples around the world, one of the many mechanisms they used was to wipe away ones identity, outlaw the language, cultural practices, replace schools of learning with their own etc, part of this mechanism was also to relabel the people of the land or alienate them from who they were, Tangata Whenua, we have the Eskimos and the Indians of the America’s, Aborigines in Australia and Māori here in NZ, regardless of the origin or what it means to us today, the term Māori has been enshrined in the Treaty of Waitangi and The Native Rights Act 1865 which limited the number of owners to a block of land making it easier to aquire, this NR act also states “The Māoris shall be deemed natural born subjects of Her Majesty the Queen and to declare that the jurisdiction of the Queens Courts of law extend over the persons and properties of all Her Majesties subjects within the Colony”. So no matter what we all think Māori means, the British Empire only see Māori as their subjects, tenants on our own lands, like Aborigines, Indians etc. I prefer the term Tangata Whenua which returns Sovereignty to out people, I don’t identify as a British subject, but that’s only my conclusion
Thanks Nate, that is really helpful and insightful. Reminds us to look at the bigger picture and consider the way we walk through life and be an influence for positive change around us. Appreciate you taking the time to read, consider and reply, helping us to grow. ✌🏾
Usually the letter “R” in Maori = “L” in Hawaiian = “N” in Tongan.
For example Rima = Lima = Nima for the number five.
MaoRi = Ma’oLi = Ma’oNi (Mo’oni). Ma’oLi in Hawaiian means “really or truly”. This is also the case in Tongan for the word Mo’oNi meaning “truly”.
Another example is a popular phrase in Hawaiian, “Kanaka Ma’oLi” meaning the “truly” indigenous/rightful people of a particular land. In Tongan, Kanaka Ma’oLi would be translated “Tangata Mo’oNi” meaning essentially the same thing.
It is my proposal with the information I’ve given, that “MaoRi” is the equivalent of “Ma’oLi” in Hawaiian. This is also in line with the anecdote you’ve given of the whalers and sealers during the 1800s attaching the word “MaoRi” with those people “truly or really” indigenous/native to that land
Kia Ora Wil, nga mihi for your input.
We were reading about this recently too and it’s an explanation that makes good linguistic sense. When you consider the movements of our tupuna and the power of linguistics to paint an accurate picture of history this explanation seems a logical one. It can also work alongside the story of the whalers and the idea of the misuse of Māori for mauri.
Importantly, the many contradicting ideas of what the word Māori means and where it comes from remind us to think critically about what we are told, to explore all the different avenues ourselves and to keep asking patai.
Thanks for your thoughtful reply, we are appreciating the korero with this patai and the many paths it is taking us down.
The story I heard was that it was Captain Cook with his passion for naming everything. He asked his Tahitian navigator Tupaia to ask the locals “What do you call yourselves?” They probably said Ngāti Oneone – their local hapu. There was no word for “all tribes” then, so when pressed for a more general name they said “The ordinary people of these lands.” – “Nga tangata māori o enei whenua.” The word māori means “ordinary” today. Either Tupaia or Cook presumably got that wrong (just as Cook did with Tolaga Bay soon afterwards) and mistook māori for a name.
So I agree on the cognates with Tongan and Hawai’ian languages.
And by the way, the Māori word for sick is mauiui – totally different.
That is interesting, thanks for sharing.
Very strange definitions of the word Maori here as referred to people. And very misleading.
Someone seems to have selected the most demeaning definition of Maori they found somewhere and applied it to people.
I grew up in the Mid Northland Ngati Hine area 1940’s, 50’s, 60’s. Maori is my 1st language. That was the only language my parents spoke at home. The word “Maori” was never ever thought of as derogatory.
Never heard of Maori in this northern area as meaning sick or diseased.
The word Maori as I knew it mainly referred to being Original. Or Pure from The Source. It was always an adjective. Describing something.
So if my mother, who was an expert with native bush medicines said, “Haere tiikina he wai maori,” I would not get common ordinary water from the river or swamp or from the drum catching it from the roof. I had to get it from the spring. Pure, from the original source.
People were known as Tangata Maori. Tangata is the noun, maori describes it. Original man. From the original source. That’s who we were. Tangata Maori.
Then some Pakeha, for convenience turned that descriptive word into a Noun. And we became known to them as Maori. A change from natives or savages as we were commonly called. And someone picked the lowest definition of Maori they could possibly find and applied it to people. Then essentially we became known to them as low down sick common, ordinary brown skinned natives. So we did recently become known to the Pakeha world as Maori.
But we had always been “Tangata Maori” long before we arrived in our Aotearoa homeland from all over the Polyesian islands in various waka into our numerous Iwi with our various dialects.
I have lived in the Polynesian islands for over 20 years. I learned to speak and understand other Polynesian languages or dialects. To me, like Maori, it was all essentially one language. Just different dialects spoken, with different sounds for most of the same vocabulary.
And they knew themselves as Tangata Maori. Just various differences in sound.
In Hawai’i (replace that ‘ with a k, you get Hawaiki), they know themselves as Kanaka Maoli. (Turn the Hawai’ian k into a t and the L into r, and you’re back to Tangata Maori. Original mankind. Not Ma’oli. Thats a different word entirely.
You will find many variations of Tangata Maori in various dialects across Polynesia. That’s who they knew themselves as.
But some so-called scholars will still try to convince us that that the word Maori is a new one, never known as a word the Maori people knew themselves as before they came into NZ.
And unfortunately, people still continue to believe that, with its new associated derogatory sense. Even some of us Maori.
Kia ora Ken,
Thanks for your input into the discussion. We have been amazed by how many different understandings there are of the word ‘Māori’. Your knowledge and experience is really helpful in trying to find a meaning that makes sense and has common agreement.
Is it possible to have full names please. What is Tamioho’s full name please I would like to read more of his work.
I’m assuming Matamua is Ta Rangimataamua
Kia ora Aramoana,
I don’t think he has writings you can read publicly. Ae, I do mean Rangimataamua. Nga mihi
Love this Korero. Thank you all for sharing your knowledge.
This encourages korero within my own whānau about ‘Us’..
Ngā mihi.
Kia ora Jay, I recommend reading all the comments that have come in recently. There are many more interesting understandings on this subject that should fuel more whānau discussion!
I’m loving this korero. Im glad our family of Dad, Mum and 9 children growing up together, were told where our roots are from our parents.
No Te Tairawhiti o Aotearoa oku Matua. My parents are both from The East Coast of New Zealand,
No Hicks Bay Taku Papa, a Te Aranga Terry Campbell
My Dad Te Aranga, Terry Campbell is from Hicks Bay on the East Coast of New Zealand
No Tokomaru Bay taku Whaea, a Elizabeth Taari Kouka i Te Tairawhiti o Aotearoa. My mother, Elizabeth Taari Kouka is from Tokomaru Bay on the East Coast of New Zealand. Us 9 siblings, who grew up in Ponsonby Auckland New Zealand, have had the priviledge of going down to Hicks Bay and Tokomaru Bay with our parents for tangihanga and also Christmas holidays. What it is to be the first to see the sunrise out of the whole world as the East Coast, North Island of New Zealand are the first to see the sunrise. My brother Steve and I got up early one morning while on holiday in Hicks Bay and we sat on the couch out on the verandah and got to see the Amazing sun rise over the beautiful Hikurangi Maunga. What an amazing sight to behold 👍. My Mum is from Tokomaru Bay, an hour drive from Hicks Bay on the East Coast and we have had a lovely holiday there as well. Beautiful rolling mountains. Im glad we got to go and be amongst all our whanaunga ( families) together on this beautiful piece of Paradise as is Hicks Bay. The Marae which consists of the
( Meeting house, hall, toilets) are out in the country and are still owned and run by whanau – family from that area. Our Marae are all in the areas where our Elders ( Kaumatua) and Whanaunga ( Wider family members) were born and raised and even though our Maori people lived off the land, had the homestead, cows, sheep, chickens for food, eggs from the chooks, had their own wood stove and flour and sugar pull out bins, easy to access flour and sugar and the wood stove was where you put cut wood and newspaper to light a fire to do your cooking. Bake bread, cook anything. Eventually the modern stove came and the kaumatua, the elderly didn’t like it. My Aunty was scared to use her electric stove. I told her Its all right Aunty we have them in the city. She didnt even want to put the switch on, the oven switch on the wall. She said she didn’t want to be electrocuted. We left her to her wood oven. I love our Kaumatua. Im one myself now and am very grateful for our many times in Hicks Bay, Tokomaru Bay, the beaches, the kaimoana, the creeks were good for swimming. One stop shop sells all. O The Good ol days.
Pai te korero ki a koutou katoa.. Ma Te Atua koutou katoa e manaaki.
Kia ora Emma, lovely to meet you, Tim also whakapapa’s back to Hicks Bay. And also Uawa, just south of Tokomaru. We know those sunrises well! It is indeed a magical place. Tims childhood sounds much like yours, the good ol days. Thanks for sharing.
E tangata ahau .e taangata a tatou.i am a person we are people.what a powerful statement. Be proud to be known as taangata whenua.not a name tag lable placed upon you by a filthy white pig
Kia ora William, thanks for being part of the discussion. It is indeed a powerful statement. I recommend reading the comments below as there are more ideas on what the kupu ‘Māori’ means and how it came about.