I did not grow up speaking colloquial Te Reo, so when I was asked to make translations of waiata, I made use of the many dictionaries and databases I found on the internet.
To search them faster, I made this webpage. Maori Dictionaries and Databases
Here is an example of how I have used them to improve my translations.
Let us see what we can do with my present dictionary translation of Toi Tu Te Hoe.
This is what I have so far, with the online Te Aka dictionary.
I went to Papers Past, selected Nuipepa/Newspapers, and pasted in Te-Roku-o-whiti.
Then I clicked on the search box to Chose the search type This exact phrase
And the 1924 Feilding Star gave me Sir Peter Buck's translation as a .jpg image.
We don't have to type it all out, we can just hit the TEXT button where OCR has been done by the library - but not very well !
So I copy that, paste it . . .
. . . and then tidy up Sir Peter Buck's translation
Tiri is the captain.
To Roku-o-Whiti is the paddle!
Behold my paddle!
It is laid by the canoe side!
Now it is raised on high, the paddle!
Poised for the plunge, the paddle!
Now we leap forward.
Behold my paddle,
Te Roku-o-Whiti.
How it flies and flashes.
It quivers like a bird's wing
This paddle of mine!
Ah, the outward lift and the flashing!
The quick thrust in and the backward sweep.
The swishing, the swirling eddies,
The foaming white wake,
And the spray which flies from my paddle.
In each of these dozen or more instructive newspaper items,
more information can be gained, and a day spent on them
would give a researcher lots more info about this chant. But
I have only enough time to get a better translation.
Next
I search for "Ko
Aotea te waka", and
set it for exact phrase, sort by date, oldest first. And I
get
NewOCR.com turned that screenshot into a typed text which I
drop into Google Translate and get a garbled but quick idea of the
context in which the quote was used.
published in Waka Maori of 12 December
against Rabata Wawahaha's comments
and Tutange. My friend Nahe, this is what I have for you.
You should also look at yourself. You are the only one
The man who brought you to this place
talk? Remember that everyone woke up
night Friends, the one who tells the wrong thing is you;
Then you asked Aotea and Horonta. He
You may be deaf. Aotea is the car and Tari is the man
up; his god above is Maru; his oar is
the Whit Tree . . .
I also discover a complete new line, used by the Whangaehu's Ngati
Apa people, about the god of rivers, Maru. I also notice their
"folk process" has also changed Roku to Rakau, changing the word
"log" to "tree."
ko Turi te tangata ki runga;
tona atua ki runga ko Maru;
tona hoe ko te Rakau o Whiti;
I then paste the original Te Reo, and all its translations, into a
Table on my webpage editor, highlight the questionable bits, and
try for a more exact translation. And I notice toi can
mean point or quickly.
| Te Reo | My Te Aka dictionary translation | Sir Peter Buck | Percy
Smith |
A
better translation ? |
| Ko Aotea te waka, Ko Turi tangata ki runga, Ko Te Roku-o-whiti te hoe. Piri papa te hoe! Awhi papa te hoe! Toi tu te hoe! Toi rere te hoe! Toi mahuta te hoe! |
White Cloud is our
voyaging craft, Turi is the person in command The Log-for-turning is the steering oar. Keep this oar close to the hull, Hug the hull with this oar! Quickly set in place is the steering oar! Quickly gliding along is the steering oar! Quickly rising is the steering oar! |
Aotea is the
canoe Turi is the captain. Te Roku-o-Whiti is the paddle! Behold my paddle! It is laid by the canoe side! Now it's raised on high, the paddle! Poised for the plunge, the paddle! Now we leap forward. te hoe?? |
"Aotea" is the
canoe, Turi is the man on board Te Roku o whiti is the paddle. Close to the side, the paddle, Encircle the side, the paddle, Forward, standing, the paddle, Forward, flying, the paddle. Forward, springing, the paddle, |
White Cloud is our
voyaging craft, Turi is the person in command The Log-for-Turning our our steering oar. Keep close to the hull, Oh oar Hug the hull, Oh oar! Stand your point up; Oh oar! Quickly zoom down; Oh oar! Quickly rise up again; Oh oar! |
Two different devices seem to be described here; the huge steering oar and the smaller moving-forward paddles. Perhaps I could change "Turi" to "The Stubborn One" as well.
| Te Reo | My Te Aka dictionary translation | Sir Peter Buck | Percy
Smith |
Even
better ? |
| Ko Aotea te waka, Ko Turi tangata ki runga, Ko Te Roku-o-whiti te hoe. Piri papa te hoe! Awhi papa te hoe! Toi tū te hoe! Toi rere te hoe! Toi mahuta te hoe! |
White Cloud is our
voyaging craft, Turi is the person in command The Log-for-turning is the steering oar. Keep this oar close to the hull, Hug the hull with this oar! Quickly set in place is the steering oar! Quickly gliding along is the steering oar! Quickly rising is the steering oar! |
Aotea is the
canoe Turi is the captain. Te Roku-o-Whiti is the paddle! Behold my paddle! It is laid by the canoe side! Now it's raised on high, the paddle! Poised for the plunge, the paddle! Now we leap forward. te hoe?? |
"Aotea" is the
canoe, Turi is the man on board Te Roku o whiti is the paddle. Close to the side, the paddle, Encircle the side, the paddle, Forward, standing, the paddle, Forward, flying, the paddle. Forward, springing, the paddle, |
White Cloud is our
voyaging craft, Stubborn One the person in command The Log-for-Turning our our steering oar. Keep close to the hull, Oh oar Hug the hull, Oh oar! Quickly stand up; Oh paddle! Quickly zoom down; Oh paddle! Quickly rise up again; Oh paddle! |
Then I check "Roku-o-whitia" again and notice that Roku = Log in the Te Aka dictionary is a recent meaning borrowed from the English word, so obviously this ancient chant is not referring to a big long steering oar.
So I next check the Austronesian Data Base and I find that on islands north of Vanuatu, the word "Rokuta" means "Knows." It must be an old, old word Polynesian word.
Also,
I notice "Whiti" can mean "Reaching the other side" as well as
"Turning."
So could "Te Roku o Whiti" mean something like "The paddle
that knows how to get me to the other side of the ocean?"
And when I go and check Edward Tregear's Comparative
Dictionary online, I find the word Roku can also mean
Bend.
So does Te Roku-o-whiti mean "Bending to get to the
other side"?
Whatever the meaning, the name refers to a paddle, not to a big
steering 'log.' So this must be a rhythmic keeping-time chant for
those with paddles.
| Te Reo | My Te Aka dictionary translation | Sir Peter Buck | Percy
Smith |
The
best translation ? |
| Ko Aotea te waka, Ko Turi tangata ki runga, Ko Te Roku-o-whiti te hoe. Piri papa te hoe! Awhi papa te hoe! Toi tu te hoe! Toi rere te hoe! Toi mahuta te hoe! |
White Cloud is our
voyaging craft, Turi is the person in command The Log-for-turning is the steering oar. Keep this oar close to the hull, Hug the hull with this oar! Quickly set in place is the steering oar! Quickly gliding along is the steering oar! Quickly rising is the steering oar! |
Aotea is the
canoe Turi is the captain. Te Roku-o-Whiti is the paddle! Behold my paddle! It is laid by the canoe side! Now it's raised on high, the paddle! Poised for the plunge, the paddle! Now we leap forward. te hoe?? |
Aotea is the
canoe, Turi is the man on board Te Roku o whiti is the paddle. Close to the side, the paddle, Encircle the side, the paddle, Forward, standing, the paddle, Forward, flying, the paddle. Forward, springing, the paddle, |
White
Cloud is our
voyaging craft, Obstinate One the person in command Knows-How-to-Get-There is our steering oar Keep close to the hull, oh steering oar Hug the hull, oh steering oar! Point up, oh paddle! Zoom down quickly, oh paddle! Quickly rise up again, oh paddle! |