Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 19, Number 6, 1 June 2002 — POWER of the word [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

POWER of the word

ByClaire Hughes, Dr. P.H., R.D. Department of Health Hawaiians were very explicit, systematic and descriptive in their system of naming things in their environment, Handy and Pūku'i list 346 nam.es for types of kalo, 148 nam.es for 'uala and at least 72 names for mai'a, With such clear differentiations, there was no doubt as to what was being described, There were many names for dif~ ferent types of rain, oeean condi~ tions and wind, and often these were characteristic of certain areas in the islands, Ka ua kuahine o Mānoa is rain characteristic of Mānoa Valley, Ka ua kipu'upu'u o Waimea describes the cold, windy rain that is characteristic of Waimea on Hawai'i, Kīpu'upu'u was also the name taken by Kamehameha's trained runners and spear fighting warriors from Waimea, Ka ua kanilehua o Hilo is the mist~like rain known in Hilo that nourishes the lehua blossoms, Today's terminology used to describe oeean conditions is high tide, low tide, rough water, choppy water, stormy seas, etc, By compar~

ison, Hawaiian nam.es for oeean conditions characteristically seen off Kona are: Ke Kona kai 'ōpua i ka la'i (where the horizon clouds rest in the ealm), ke kai mā'oki'oki, (the choppy oeean), ke kai malino a 'o Kona, These are easily identified by the trained eye, and fishermen from the area know the kind of fish~ ing conditions these oceans bring, ,4n.other song talks of "ka makani kā'ili aloha o Kīpahulu", the love~ snatching wind that blows from the

mountain towards the sea in Kīpahulu, A mo'olelo about this wind tells of a woman and two men who lived in Kīpahulu, The woman married one of the men and they lived comfortably for years, The

other man became interested in the woman and, seduced by his entreaties, she ran away with him to Makiki on O'ahu and thought no more about Kīpahulu or her hus~ band, The Kīpahulu man missed his wife so mueh, he nearly went crazy, Finally, he sought the help of a kahuna named Haipu, He talked to him about his heartache and sick~ ness, Haipu promised the man that his wife would return if he followed his instructions diligently, The two men went to Makaikuloa, a point on the shoreline and began gathering things they needed to fill a favorite calabash the eouple owned, The man held the calabash while the kahuna whistled into the calabash the saddest, most heart~rending love songs, until the calabash was weighted with songs of every kind, Then the man was instructed to add words of love for his wife, Releasing the closed calabash into the sea, the kahuna prayed to the 'aumakua of the winds and the shark to carry the calabash to Honolulu, The kūlepe wind began to blow, carrying the calabash away, Meanwhile, the wife and her new mate were living comfortably and happily in Makiki, One day she

woke with a strong yearning for some limu līpoa that grew off Waikīkī, but she controlled her cravings all day, However, the next morning, she went to the beach very early to gather limu, While there, she saw a little calabash bobbing on the waves and went to get it, As she approached the calabash she said to herself, "This calabash is very mueh like the one I had in Kīpahulu," She removed the lid and was overcome by the sweet fragrance of her love for her husband and a great longing to go home, She walked to Hanauma, where she found two men who were leav~ ing for Moloka'i, She begged to go with them, They reached Kalā'au point, and shewalked to Kalua'aha, found a eanoe going to Lāhaina and got on board that eanoe, īn Lahaina she walked upland of Olowalu, through Ma'alaea, Makena, Kahikinui, Kaupō and, at last, arrived in Kīpahulu at her husband's house, The kahuna had cautioned him to resist kissing his wife and to wait before allowing her to kiss him, lest she go back to Honolulu, īn accor~ dance with the kahuna's instruc~ tions, the eouple reunited and lived happily ever after in Kīpahulu, ■

There were many names tor different types of rain, oeean conditions and wind, and often these were characteristic of certain areas in the islands.

The intricacies of naming anel the

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