Polynesia

Polynesia’s proverb traditions are some of the most concise and memorable in the world. Māori whakataukī, Hawaiian ʻōlelo noʻeau, Sāmoan alagāupu, Tongan lea fakatātā — each tradition treats the proverb as a foundational form of careful speech, often used in oratory and ceremony. The essays filed here so far come from two of them, Māori and Hawaiian, and lean on the standard collection for each: Mead and Grove’s Ngā Pēpeha a ngā Tīpuna (2001) and Mary Kawena Pukui’s ʻŌlelo Noʻeau (1983).

The Māori he tāngata, he tāngata, he tāngata — “it is people, it is people, it is people” — is one of the most quoted proverbs from the region, and it gives the temperament: humanist, communal, and quietly insistent. He waka eke noa, a canoe we all board, says the same thing with a hull around it. Ka mua, ka muri — literally “the front, the back” — carries a whole orientation to time, in which the past lies in front of you and the future at your back.

The Hawaiian sayings work with the materials of island life: land, school, speech, and sea. He aliʻi ka ʻāina, he kauwā ke kanaka: the land is chief, the human its servant. ʻAʻohe pau ka ʻike i ka hālau hoʻokahi: not all knowledge is taught in one school. I ka ʻōlelo nō ke ola, i ka ʻōlelo nō ka make makes speech the literal seat of life and death. And the fishing proverb he lawaiʻa no ke kai hohonu, he loa ke aho measures a person’s reach by what they bring to it: a fisherman of the deep sea has a long line.