wharepuni

From Maori wharepuni.^[1]

• (New Zealand) IPA^(key): /ˌfʌreˈpʉni/
• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˌwɑːɹeɪˈpuːni/, /ˌfɑːɹeɪˈpuːni/

wharepuni (plural wharepuni or wharepunis)

1. (New Zealand) A large building in Maori communities for communal sleeping or for group meetings; a meeting house. [from 19th c.]
   • 1867, Ferdinand von Hochstetter, translated by Edward Sauter, “Ngawhas, and Puias; boiling springs, solfataras and fumaroles”, in New Zealand: Its Physical Geography, Geology and Natural History […], Stuttgart: J. G. Cotta, →OCLC, page 423:

     The dwellings of the chiefs are surrounded with enclosures of pole-fences; and the Whares and Wharepunis, some of them exhibiting very fine specimens of the Maori order of architecture, are ornamented with grotesque wood-carvings.

   • 1954, Forefront: A Monthly Survey of New Zealand Affairs, volumes 1–5, London: High Commissioner for New Zealand in the United Kingdom, page 19, column 3:

     A notable recent event was the construction of a fourth wharepuni. These wharepuni are in themselves fully fledged meeting-houses, although the decoration inside is simple, in accordance with their function as dormitories.

   • 2003, Michael King, The Penguin History of Aotearoa New Zealand, Penguin, published 2023, page 231:

     Wharepuni increased greatly in size to the kinds of dimensions that would become common in the twentieth century.

From whare (“house”) +‎ puni (“group of people, company”).

wharepuni

1. wharepuni

• → English: wharepuni

• “wharepuni” in John C. Moorfield, Te Aka: Maori–English, English–Maori Dictionary and Index, 3rd edition, Longman/Pearson Education New Zealand, 2011, →ISBN.