tapahi

Maori

Etymology

From Proto-Polynesian *tapasi ~ *tapas-i (“to cut” – compare with Rarotongan tapaʻi “to chop down lengthwise, to cleave”, Tahitian tapahi “to cut or split a fruit into two, to cut down a tree”, Samoan tafa, Tongan tafa “to cut open (of boils), to incise, to carve”), from Proto-Oceanic *tapasi (compare with Fijian tava “to cut with a knife, to castrate”) from Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *tabas (compare with Malay tebas “to slash or cut down grasses, small plants”, Tagalog tabas “to cut fabric, paper”).[1][2] Doublet of tapa.

Verb

tapahi (passive tapahia)

  1. to cut, to chop
  2. to reap, to harvest (of crops like wheat)
  3. to amputate limbs

Derived terms

  • tapahanga (the cutting of something)
  • tapatapahi

References

  1. ^ Ross Clark and Simon J. Greenhill, editors (2011), “tapa-si”, in “POLLEX-Online: The Polynesian Lexicon Project Online”, in Oceanic Linguistics, volume 50, number 2, pages 551-559
  2. ^ Ross, Malcolm D., Pawley, Andrew, Osmond, Meredith (1998) The lexicon of Proto-Oceanic, volume 1: Material Culture, Canberra: Australian National University, →ISBN, pages 251-2

Further reading

  • Williams, Herbert William (1917) “tapahi”, in A Dictionary of the Maori Language, page 446
  • “tapahi” in John C. Moorfield, Te Aka: Maori–English, English–Maori Dictionary and Index, 3rd edition, Longman/Pearson Education New Zealand, 2011, →ISBN.
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