rāwhiti

Maori

Etymology

From rā (“sun”) +‎ whiti (“spring up”).

No words for the cardinal directions can be unambiguously reconstructed for Proto-Polynesian, as there would be little use for them on the small Polynesian islands. However, on the much larger North Island (Te Ika-a-Māui) and South Island (Te Waipounamu) of New Zealand, the usefulness of such terminology led the Māori to coin this word for "east".^[1]

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /raː.ɸi.ti/, [ɾɑː.fi.ti]

Noun

rāwhiti

east
Synonyms: (rare) tamawahine, (obsolete) īta

Coordinate terms

(compass points)

tapatapātiu	tokerau, raki	kārapu
uru		rāwhiti
uru-mā-tonga	tonga	pitonga

References

^ Bruce Biggs (1994) “New Words for a New World”, in A. K. Pawley, M. D. Ross, editors, Austronesian Terminologies: Continuity and Change (Pacific Linguistics Series C; 127), Australian National University, →DOI, page 26.

[1] Bruce Biggs (1994) “New Words for a New World”, in A. K. Pawley, M. D. Ross, editors, Austronesian Terminologies: Continuity and Change (Pacific Linguistics Series C; 127), Australian National University, →DOI, page 26.

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