Ke Alahou, Volume I, Number 1, 1 November 1979 — HAWAIIAN PLACE NAMES for our English readers [ARTICLE]

HAWAIIAN PLACE NAMES

for our English readers

Since the arrival of Captain Cook some twohundred years ago, rnany Hawaiian p-laee riames have fallen from use or baen forgotten altogether. The ncfmb*er of those completely lost eannol be guessed, but a study of plaee names used'W4he 4 books of the Wahele would reveal niueh about those that are seldoro used today, The books of the Mahele record the claims made by many ali'i, some maka'ainana, and a number of haoles in {he'nilH-nineleenlh century. In describing his land, eaeh claimant gives land division names to show the location of his elaim. The principal lānd division is the island. Hawaiians at the time of the Mahele a4icient names for the islands that we still use today: Hawaii, Maui, Kahoolawe, Lanai, Molov kai, Oahu, Kauai and Niihau. It may surprise many to learn that the Hawaiians had no name for their archipelago. Hawaii as a name for the group is recent, and seems to have been used to name the groiip because was a native of Hawaii island. If Kaumualii had wished to rule all the islands and had conquered them instead of Kamehameha, then we might all be liting in the statē of Kauai today! Cert'alnly, no Oahu native of ancient times would allow himself to be called a Hawaiian — he was an Oahuan! , The land division next in size to the islandls the district. Only Hawaii, Maui, Molokai, Oahu and Kauai were broken into districts. On Oahu, the districts were Kona, Koolau Poko, Koolau Loa, Waialua, Waianae, Wahiawa and Fwa. Today, we use all these natne3* except Kona, whieh has been reptaced by Honolulu. It ls often said that the boundaries of the districts havē been the same since ancient times, but this is not entirely true. For instance. the anc!ent Kona district stretched from Red Hill in Moanalua to ' ■: 1 ■.

the ridge between Kuliouou and Hawaii Kai. Today the Honolulu district includes all the larid beyond Kuliouou up to Makapuu, The ahupuaa is the land divisioh next in size. In ancient times, the Kona district was made up . of thē ahupuaa of Moanalua, Kahuaiki, Kalihi, Kapalama, Nuuanu, Paupa, Makiki, Manoa, Palolo, Waialae Nui, Waialae Jki, Wailupe, Niu and Kuliouou. An ah upuaa is often described as stretching from the mountain ridge to the sea and out into"the shallow water, but few of the ahupuaa in Kona fit thls description. Kapalama, Nuuanu, Pauoa, Makiki, Manoa and Palolo are blocked from the sea by three large land divisions — Honolulu, Pawa'a aiid Waikiki —■ w r hich ate classed as ahiipuaa in the Mahele books. Whether these wēre copsidered ahupuaa in aneienl times is nbt īn addltion, four ahupuaa' 7Kahaūiki, Kapalama, Pauoa and Makiki — do not reach thē mountain^ridge, *Usage of the Kona di|trict ahupuaa names has changed greatly in the years since Jthe Mahele. Kahāniki is seldom heard today, having been replaced with Fort Shaftei% and most of Wailupe is now called Aina Haina. The name Makiki is well-known, but few f wbuld be āble to locatē its boundaries accurate!y. Thus, even at the level of ahupuaa, changes have occuired since the Mahele, The last land divfsioh we will corisider is the ill. Most ahiipuaa were divided intdniany ili, and a few f!i names are stiH widely used today, such as Moili'ili or Puunui, Some ili names survive only as streel names, and fevv people realize that they are aneienl iri"orijgin. Ih Nuuanu t streets named for 11l include Puiwa, Niolopa and Kawananakoe. For thē grealeijj'part l however, the names bf most ili aire no l|nger used. Few would"be able to loeale tuakah| or Kahapaakai, the fFf whieh made up upper ī^uu&uik