taonga

taonga

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Māori.

Noun

taonga (plural taonga or taongas)

  1. (New Zealand) In Maori culture, any treasured thing, whether tangible or intangible.
    • 2013, Radio New Zealand, Waitangi Tribunal visits islands prized as taonga‎[2]:
      The islands and fishing grounds that are now a jewel in the crown of tourism were from the earliest days populated and prized by Maori as taonga.

Māori

Etymology

From Proto-Central Eastern Polynesian *taqoŋa "treasured possession". Cognate with Hawaiian kaona (“hidden meaning”), Tahitian taoʻa, Samoan tōga “special gifts or offerings” and Tongan tōʻonga “custom, habit, conduct, behaviour, characteristic; rite, ceremony”.[1]

Noun

taonga

  1. anything treasured or highly prized
    1. treasure
    2. property

References

  1. ^ M. Ross, A. Pawley, M. Osmond, editors (2023), The Lexicon of Proto-Oceanic‎[1], volume 6: Society, Australian National University, page 412

Further reading

  • Williams, Herbert William (1917), “taonga”, in A Dictionary of the Maori Language, page 445
  • John C. Moorfield (2011), “taonga”, in Te Aka: Māori–English, English–Māori Dictionary and Index‎[3], 3rd edition, Longman/Pearson Education New Zealand, →ISBN
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