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1. Dog.
2. A generic term for foreign quadruped.
3. Cloud
4. Tie beam in a house, brace that holds rafter to crossbeam.
5. A seaweed
.
Though there are five different meanings, the most common is the first one, dog.
Polynesians brought with them to these islands a small ʻīlio that was primarily used as a food source, sometimes as a sacrifice and also as pets. These first "four legged settlers" no longer exist in their pure state as inter-breeding has thinned out their bloodline. It is hard for some to fathom that Hawaiians ate ʻīlio but, hey, I hear they are low in fat and quite good tasting. I will take their word for it, just like frog legs, I'm sure. Some accounts say that women were not allowed to eat ʻīlio but I'm not sure about that. Below are some ʻīlio terms:
ʻīlio pulu - bulldog
ʻīlio mo'o - brindled dog
ʻīlio hahai - greyhound (chasing dog)
ʻīlio hahai manu - bird dog (bird chasing dog)
He ʻīlio ka'u - I have a dog
'a'ohe a'u ʻīlio - I don't have any dogs
'ai nō ka 'īlio i kona lua'i
a dog eats his own vomit
(Said of one who says nasty things of others and then has those very things happen to himself)
1. Hawaiian pearl oyster.
2. feelers of an insect, as of an ant.
3. a leafless plant, also called moa (Psilotum).
4. a kind of tapa.
5. body depression; eyeball.
6. lower part of an adze.
7. beef, cattle, ox.
I am on an animal theme with todayʻs Hawaiian word.
Pipi most often refers to beef, cattle or ox. In fact, the word pipi is also found in older palapala, or documents, written as bipi. It comes directly from the English word beef. And since we only get beef from cattle it makes sense that pipi refers to cattle.
Do you like to eat pipi kaula? That is our local beef jerky. Literally this word means "rope beef."
pipi wahine - cow (female beef)
pipi waiū - dairy cow (milk beef)
pipi kāne - bull (male beef)
pipi laho - bull (laho refers to scrotum and when used with animal words it means "male")
pipi keiki - calf
He pipi kaulana 'o Lani Moo - Lani Moo was a famous cow.
Nui ka pipi ma Waimea - There is a lot of beef/cattle in Waimea.
1. pack, knapsack carried on the back. runners, as on a vine; tentacles.
In English we refer to the tentacles of an octopus (or a squid) as legs. In Hawaiian they are not legs. They are 'awe'awe. Interestingly, this is the same word used for the rawhide twine on a saddle. It's the rigging that attaches the saddle to the cinch. And there is some resemblence between the tentacle and the twine, particularly when it is braided and especially when there are several braids.
This word also refers to carrying on the back,like a backpack, which is known as an 'eke hā'awe or pāiki hā'awe.
'Ewalu 'awe'awe o ka he'e - an octopus has 8 tentacles.
Maika'i ka 'awe'awe o ka noholio - The 'awe'awe of the saddle is good.
He 'awe'awe ko ka 'uala - The sweet potatoes have runners.
1. bottle gourd.
2. watermelon
3. general name for vessel or container.
4. drum consisting of a single gourd or made of two large gourds joined together.
5. Crown of a hat.
Ipu are most visible in hula. When dancing the ancient style of hula (hula 'ōlapa), usually the dancing is accompanied with an ipu to help keep rhythm or beat while the ho'opa'a (the chanter) chants the mele. This style of hula is termed hula 'ala'apapa. This is hula accompanied by an ipu. In most cases the ho'opa'a uses an ipu heke or a double gourd (this is actually two ipu glued together). This is in contrast to the ipu heke 'ole or single gourd ipu which is used more for the hula 'auana or modern type hula.
Since ipu was also used as a container for water, food, or supplies, containers are also known as ipu today, even if it is not made from an ipu. Ipu is also the general term for watermelon, sometimes followed by another word to be more specific:
ipu 'ai waha - watermelon (ipu you eat with your mouth)
ipu wai - watermelon (water ipu)
ipu haole - watermelon (foreign ipu)
ipu 'ai maka - watermelon (ipu eaten raw)
ka ipu o ka 'ike
a container of knowledge
(a learned person)
Got an ipu comment or question? Press on comments and type away! I LOVE COMMENTS! It keeps me going. Day after day after day. Having a one way conversation is NOT fun. Part of the blogging beauty is the ability to "converse".
Falling; scattered, as rain, tears, grain; crumbling, as the earth; dilapidated; to shed, as a dog's hair.
As I was walking yesterday morning on our country road, I could see the bright red stamens of the lehua blossoms scattered on the road. I wish everyone could bask in that beauty. On O'ahu it's hard enough to find a single tree, let alone a forest vibrant with the lehua 'ula'ula (red lehua) and lehua mamo (yellow lehua). The word used to describe the falling of these stamens is helele'i. Hawaiian language learners usually use the generic word hā'ule when describing something that is falling. But there are many words to describe how something falls. Helele'i is one of them. When flowers fall from a tree, that is helele'i. When rain falls from the heavens, that is helele'i. When tears fall from the eyes, that is helele'i. And just knowing that gives helele'i a whole different feeling to it when using it. We are so used to generic words as language learners and as speakers that we forget the intricacies of ALL languages.
"Helele'i pua i ke kai"... - Flowers falling into the ocean (from Ka Wai Lehua by Frank Hewett)
Ua helele'i iho kona waimaka i ka papalina - her tears fell to her cheeks.
Ke helele'i nei ka hulu o ka 'īlio - The dog's fur is shedding.
Spouses sharing a spouse, as two husbands of a wife, or two wives of a husband.
Today's word, like yesterday's, is not something that we typically practice today (not in Hawai'i, at least!). Yesterday's word, po'olua, referred to a child who had two fathers. Today's word, punalua, refers to the relationship between two husbands or two wives who share the same spouse.
Hawaiians, back in the pre-missionary days (and even in the early years after their arrival in 1820) practiced polygamy. A husband could have many wives and a wife could have many husbands. This was more prevalent among the ali'i (chiefly) class. Kamehameha had many wives. The two most well known are Ka'ahumanu and Keōpūolani. They were punalua to each other since they both shared the same husband. Polygamy wasn't practiced for the fun of it. It was more for social ranking (by having children with Keōpūolani, a very sacred ali'i, Kamehameha I assured the continuation of the monarchy by his children) and economics. A wife may ask her husband to take her widowed sister as a wife so that there would be a man and a family to care for her.
For whatever reason, it was uncommon for punalua to be jealous of one another. There are some stories/legends that tell of a jealous punalua and doom being the outcome of a jealous rage.
In modern day Hawaiʻi, I know of one punalua relationship (this was years ago) and I am wondering about another. I am sure it happens here in our own islands, along with all of the other "out of the norm" relationships out there. To each his (or her) own. I do not sit in judgment, lest I be judged.
'O Ka'ahumanu ka punalua o Keōpūolani - Ka'ahumanu was the punalua of Keōpūolani.
'O wai kona punalua? - Who is his punalua?
Child sired by other than the husband, but accepted by both husband and sire.
In other words, mom went out and had a child by someone else but husband is okay with it. Doesn't happen a lot today (although I have heard instances of it happening) but I think it was a more common happening in traditional Hawai'i. A poʻolua child was lucky in the sense that it increased the number of relatives of the child (related to mom's family, dad's family, and biological father's family) and if he was aliʻi then it assured loyalty to him as kinsmen.
Poʻolua literally means "two heads" and the best example of a poʻolua child is Kamehameha I. His mother was Keku'iapoiwa and her husband was Keōuakupuapāikalaninui. Many historians believe that Keku'iapoiwa had a liaison with Kahekilinui'ahumanu (ruler of Maui) and from this union was born Kamehameha Pai'ea (otherwise known as Kamehameha the Great). Therefore, though Kahekili was thought to be his biological father, he was raised by his parents, Keku'iapoiwa and Keōua.
Now one must not frown upon this as being unacceptable behavior for Hawaiians. After all, they had a very intricate social system, practiced polygamy, had a matrilineal society and a monarchy. They had a very detailed kapu system. They had it all under control. All the fathers and mothers took responsibility for their offspring, cared for them, taught them.
He po'olua 'o Kamehameha I - Kamehameha I is a po'olua child
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