A LINGUIST REVISITS THE BUSH

Bruce Biggs University of Auckland

The Fiji, , Tonga region has a relatively rich flora.1 Somewhere in this area was the homeland in which the Proto-Polynesian language was spoken and we may be sure that the Proto-, like their descendants, had a vocabulary matching the richness of their environment, with each having its own name. More than 200 Polynesian plant names have etymologies and rather less than half of them have reflexes in Maori. It is interesting to consider reasons for the loss of some names and for changes of meaning that those retained have undergone in New Zealand. As the ancestors moved eastwards across the flora became ever sparser in the sense that there were fewer different species. But those that were found in the eastern islands were, for the most part, the same as or similar to those they already knew and the nomenclature was to hand. The names for not found in the new environment were finally forgotten. For example the Puzzlenut, known to the Proto- Polynesians in their western homeland as *lekileki, is absent from the eastern islands and the word is unknown in the eastern Polynesian languages. In the new environment fewer plant names were needed.2 The absence in New Zealand of many Polynesian tree names such as *tamanu, *fesi, *mosokoi, *rjatae is significant. As we have seen, some of the species they named did not grow in Eastern Polynesia and the names had been lost before New Zealand was discovered. This may have been the case even when the tree and name are now found in Eastern Polynesia. It seems likely, for example, thatmosokoi “Canaga odorata” is a fairly recent introduction to the eastern islands so its name is understandably absent from New Zealand.3 *fesi “Intsia bijuga” is one of the largest and most important trees of the west, with hard, durable and highly valued timber. Neither the tree nor its name occurs in the eastern islands, the immediate homeland of the Maori, so we need not be surprised that none of the New Zealand timber trees are named for it. rjatae “Erythrina spp.”, however, is a name found everywhere in Eastern Polynesia where the showy blossoms and large size make the Coral or Flame Tree one of the most striking sights of the island coasts. But the name is not found in New Zealand, either because no tree reminiscent of Erythrina was found here (the is absent from New Zealand) or possibly because it was introduced into Eastern Polynesia after the Maori ancestors had left. The fact that the name is not found in Hawai’i but is found in Marquesan, the immediate Hawai’ian homeland, gives some weight to the latter possibility. The Polynesians had special names for certain parts of particular plant species. Thus the striking of the Pandanus was known as *siyano, the flamboyant red flowers of Erythrina had the special name *kalokalo. The hairy core of the Breadfruit was called *fune, while a Breadfruit crop had the special name *fuata. The , as became its economic importance, had a whole special vocabulary. The central, unfolded sprout was *tola, the frond was *niikau, the butt of the midrib was *palalafa, the outer skin of the midrib was called *kalawa, the coarse fibre enveloping the base of the fronds was *kaka, while the fibrous outer covering of the nut was *pulu\ the flower-spathe was *taume, the spadix was *loholoho\ the milk was *suqa, the cream *lolo, the flesh *kano\ the grated flesh after its cream was expressed was *penu and the nut at each of its many stages of growth had a new name. When a tree was not found in New Zealand any such special vocabulary tended to be lost, so Maori is without *siqano, *kalokalo, *taume, *loholoho. When a name has survived it has been given a new, somethimes surprising meaning. *fune “breadfruit core” has become Maori hunehune “pappus of the raupoo (Bulrush)”; Maori kaka in eastern dialects means “clothing in general”; *taa, the old word for a hand of bananas, is now found in Maori taawhara the edible flower of kiekie “Freycinetia banksii”\ *sakari, which means “coconut” in a few Eastern Polynesian islands, has come to mean “ceremonial feast” in its Maori form haakari. When the East Polynesian discoverers reached New Zealand they entered once more a region of floral diversity whose richness was matched only by its unfamiliarity. Now their botanical nomenclature was less than adequate to provide names for all the plants they encountered. There are basically three ways in which people innovate names. Firstly, a totally new word can be coined. This is, in fact, seldom done, though it is said that the English words “gas” and “kodak” were deliberately coined. I know of no Polynesian examples except onomatopoeic ones such as Maori korukoru “turkey” and perhaps heihei “fowl, chook”. Secondly, a word can be borrowed from another language, usually a word by which the referent is already known. So, in English, we use the borrowed word kauri for Agathis australis. 67 68 Bruce Biggs

This is common practice among languages, but was not available to the Maori ancestors because they were linguistically isolated. Thirdly, a new meaning can be assigned to an old word, as when English settlers called Phormium tenax Flax, and Knightia excelsa Honeysuckle. A modifier may be added, as with New Zealand Spinach, Bastard Sandalwood and White Pine. This third device was used by the Maori. Plants that were the same as or similar to those at home were given the same names, or names modified by any one of several morphemes that added the meaning “like” to the word. Reduplication is such a morpheme, so the New Zealand kawakawa “Macropiper excelsum” means *kawa-like, *kawa “Piper methysticum” being similar in many respects to the New Zealand plant. Po(o)- and koo- are Maori prefixes which appear to have the same force, as in Maori pohue, the name for several trailing plants, which are in that respect, at least, like the *fue “Gourd (Lagenaria vulgaris)”. In Maori koowharawhara “Astelia sp.”, ultimately from Proto-Austronesian*panDan “Pandanus spp.”, we see two of these features used, the reduplication morpheme in this case being of considerable antiquity. In Fiji varavara is used for several Liliaceous plants, and in several Polynesian languages cognates of*falafala refer to varieties of yam and plantain. In these latter cases the perceived resemblance was perhaps with the edible Pandanus fruit. Reflexes of *fara in New Zealand provide an interesting example of the problem faced in naming all the new plants. Throughout Polynesia the Pandanus is known by some reflex of the Proto-Polynesian form *fara. In accordance with the general rule that reduplication reduces the force of a word, reduplicated reflexes of *fara named plants similar to but different from the Pandanus, both in Polynesia and New Zealand. The Maori forms containing the regular reflex whara exhibit both reduplication and the prefixing of koo- “like”, and puu- “clump”. So koo-wharawhara “Astelia banksii”, denotes a plant “somewhat like the Pandanus” as indeed it is. Puu-wharawhara, another name for the species, is literally “clump of Pandanus-like plant”. Harakeke is less obviously cognate, but Proto-Polynesian */ is often reflected ash in Maori and there is a Polynesian base *keke “hard, strong” so hara-keke with its fibre of great tensile strength may have meant “the strong Pandanus”. Notice that the other flax species (P. cookii) is called whara-riki “the small Pandanus” and that a variety ofP. tenax favoured for weaving because of its long fibres, was known aswhara-nui “large whara ”. The reasons for assigning old names to particular New Zealand plants are not always obvious. Why, for example, was the great forest tree Dysoxylon called kohe or kohekohe when, throughout Polynesia, *kofe is Bamboo? The only point of resemblance that I can see is the New Zealand tree’s habit of sending up long, straight suckers, which are bare of and could be likened to the poles of bamboo.4 Again, why were several New Zealand forest trees and shrubs of different genera ( Phebalium, Olea, Eugenia, Fuscanus) called maire, a name applied everywhere else to a scented, twining shrub or a scented fern? The maire-hau “Phebalium nudum” does have scented leaves, as its name implies, but, as far as I am aware the other species do not. Here the name may have been assigned because of a resemblance in leaf shape to the Polynesian shrub, Alyxia sp. Throughout Polynesia the Beach Hibiscus (//. tiliaceus) is known by a reflex of Proto-Polynesian*fau. The wood, which is soft and very light, is often used for canoe outriggers and the bark is used everywhere for tying and binding. In New Zealand, species of several genera have names which are reflexes of *fau, the names having been chosen apparently because of some attribute shared with the Polynesian tree. The whau “Entelea arborescens” has the lightest wood of any New Zealand tree. A dialectal variant whau-ama means “outrigger whau”. In some dialects, the vowel a has become o by assimilation to the following u, and as wh may not precede a round vowel it has, willy-nilly, becomeh. So we get hou-ama and hou-here “Lacebark (Hoheria spp.)”. The latter means “the tying *fau” and the bark is suitable for that purpose. The whau-paku “Panax arboreum”, or little whau, does not resemble the Beach Hibiscus in general form, but shares with it soft wood and a central core of pith. In Tahiti and Hawai’i the *fekii is the “Plantain {Musa sp.)”, a kind of banana, but a record by the first missionary in the Marquesas gives fekke as a “kind of fern”. It seems likely that this was the original meaning, applied naturally enough to one of New Zealand’s tree ferns the whekii (Dicksonia squarrosa). The Proto-Polynesian form *fue, from an earlier Proto-Oceanic form *fuRe, probably referred to the Convolvulus common on the island beaches. In Proto-Eastern Polynesian times it changed to hue and came to refer to the gourd plant Lagenaria sicenaria which was brought to New Zealand under that name. The Maori prefixpoo- meaning “-like” was added and a number of trailing or climbing plants became known as poohue or poohuehue. There is a tree name with reflexes in various languages kapika, kafika, ka ’ika, ’ahi’a, kahika, ’ohi’a. The reconstructed proto-form is *kafika with the proto-meaning, shared by most of the daughter languages, “Malay Apple (Szygium malaccense)”. Throughout Polynesia, reflexes of Proto-Polynesian *kafika (from Proto-Oceanic * kapika) name the Malay Apple (Szygium malaccensis). The word appears in the name of several New Zealand trees, for A Linguist Revisits the New Zealand Bush 69 example Podocarpus dacrydioides, kahika-tea or “white” kahika, a name borrowed into English as [kaikatia] or [kaik]. There is an East Coast legend, referred to in Laing and Blackwell’s Plants of New Zealand which says that Pou-rangahua, travelling from Hawaiki on the huge bird of Rua-kapanga, cast red feathers from under its wings into the sea. They washed ashore and grew into kahika trees. This is generally taken to mean the kahikatea (P. dacrydioides), which doesn’t have red flowers and is not characteristically a coastal tree. It turns out, however, that in the far north of New Zealand, kahika is the name for Metrosideros tomentosa, known elsewhere as poohutukawa, which does, of course, have striking red flowers and it grows at the coast. If the kahika of the legend refers to the red-flowered , it seems likely that this tree, or that other red-flowered Metrosideros the raataa was once more generally known as kahika. In fact Elsdon Best noted that in Tuuhoe the bloom of the raataa , another Metrosideros, was called kahika. Metrosideros species have showy, many stamened flowers as does Szygium malaccensis so it is not surprising that the ancestors used the old name *kafika for the new, and, in this respect, similar tree. The Hawai’ian ancestors appear to have done the same thing. Although superficially dissimilar, the Hawai’ian word ’o h i’a, which is used for the red flowers of Metrosideros macropus, is also a reflex of *kafika. However, it is somewhat puzzling to find Podocarpus dacrydioides with its insignificant flowers, known as kahika-tea, the “white” *kafika. The link may refer to the edibility of the fruit, since both the large fruit of Szygium malaccensis and the tiny berries of the Podocarp were eaten. In the far north of New Zealand the name kahikaatoa for the shrub known in most areas as maanuka ‘Tea- tree (Leptospermum scoparium)” appears to contain a reflex of *kafika, but the flowers, leaves and fruit are quite unlike those ofSzygium malaccensis and the fruit are inedible. The choice of kahika in this name seemed something of a puzzle to me but Metrosideros, Szygium and Leptospermum are all members of the same family, Myrtacaeae.5 The full name could be translated as “warrior’skahika,\ reminding us that weapons such as taiaha, and maipi were made from its tough, heavy timber. The *futu “ sp.” is a most striking shore tree of Polynesia with large, many-stamened pink flowers. Its large, slightly fleshy leaves are crushed and used as fish poison. The poo-hutu of the Maori poohutukawa means “futu-like”. Kawa may refer to the toxic properties of Barringtonia (cf. Proto-Polynesian *kawa “toxic, bitter”). But the name must have been brought in its entirety to New Zealand, forpoohutukava is found in Rarotongan applied to a member of the same genus. Reasons for applying the name *futu as hum to the New Zealand Ascarina lucida are not especially obvious. Perhaps the perceived resemblance lay in the size, shape, and texture of the leaves. The name *kaaretu “a scented grass” can be reconstructed for the Central Eastern Polynesian subgroup which includes Tahitian, Rarotongan, Hawai’ian and Marquesan. In Tahitian and other languages of ' aaretu is a scented grass or herb, so it would be natural for the Maori ancestors to give the name kaaretu to a scented grass, Hierochloe antarctica, in their new home. In Tahitian an apparent cognate of kauri is the word ’ auri which refers to the saplings of certain kinds of trees. One would have expected a term other than “sapling” to be chosen as the name of New Zealand’s forest giant. In Samoan a possible cognate is ’au’auii “Samoan Ebony (Diospyrus samoensis)'\ though this is a small tree with hard timber, unlike kauri in both respects. Throughout Polynesia the plant known as * is important because of the narcotic drink prepared from its roots. Both the plant and the beverage figure in the ceremonial and ritual of island Polynesia. Here in New Zealand the related and similar looking Macropiper excelsum was dubbed kawakawa, the reduplication indicating that it was similar to, but not the real thing, for its roots did not contain the valued intoxicant. The unreduplicated form in Maori meant, among other things, the twigs used in certain rituals and ceremonial and some of the ceremonies themselves. In Western Polynesia and in Rarotonga *pilita is a wild yam (Dioscorea pentaphylla) with a strong, twining vine. In Tahitian the word refers to the roots of a ’ie'ie (. Freycinetia demissa ) cf. Maori kiekie (Freycinetia banksii). In eastern Maori dialects pirita is the Supplejack {Rhipogonon scandens), named, we may suppose, for its strong, twining vine and despite the absence of the edible tuber of its namesake. In the case of another plant, however, it appears that edibility per se was the feature that determined the choice of name, for *maika “Banana” is found in Maori maikaika, a little orchid with an edible, but not particularly banana-like tuber. Plant names from Polynesia whose referents were not found in New Zealand were sometimes retained, not as plant names, but with new meanings associated with the old one. For example *tewe was the name of the toxic Stink LilyAmorphophallus (. campanulatus). The plant is not found in New Zealand where the word was applied to the drink made from the juice of the tutu, a plant whose and other parts contain a deadly poison. A couple of samples will illustrate a line of reasoning that Ralph Bulmer suggested for determining the location of the Maori homeland or homelands. In the western Pacific are prominent and reflexes of the Proto-Austronesian name *(tT)ei)e(rR) are common. Samoan togo “” marks the easternmost 70 Bruce Biggs boundary of the name and the plant. The migrants who struck northward to Hawai’i and southward to New Zealand came among mangrove dominated estuaries once more. The Hawai’ians named it kukuna-o-ka-laa “rays of the sun”, a reference apparently to the shape of the calyx, which was used in the garlands called .6 More prosaically, the Maori ancestors named the New Zealand mangrove maanawa after the Beach Vitex common on the shores of their homeland. This example would seem to indicate pretty clearly that mangroves were absent in the immediate homeland of both Maoris and Hawai’ians, for if it was a known plant they would surely have retained the name familiar to them. It has been often suggested that New Zealand was settled more than once and from different areas of the Pacific. Robert Langdon has pointed out recently7 that the name ma(a)ota “a tree (Dysoxylon sp.)” is found in Western Polynesia and, according to the 5th (1917) edition of Williams’s Maori Dictionary, in New Zealand, but not in Eastern Polynesia where the word and the plant genus are both unknown. It is argued that only a separate migration from Western Polynesia could account for the present distribution of the word. This is an interesting example but its significance is questionable because of some doubt about the assignation of the meaning “ Dysoxylon sp.” to the Maori word. The example cited in the Dictionary is pretty clearly not a reference to a particular tree, and I have not found any other indication that the Maori word maaota means other than “green, fresh (as leaves)”. Enough examples have been given to show that the dry as dust data of comparative linguistics can enliven the interest of a (metaphorical) walk in the New Zealand bush. Following is a list of reconstructed Polynesian plant names including all those with Maori reflexes. Those with more botanical knowledge than myself may like to consider further why the ancestors matched old names with new species in just the way they did. It is the kind of topic that would have interested my good friend Ralph Bulmer to whose memory this paper is dedicated.

APPENDIX RECONSTRUCTED POLYNESIAN PLANT NAMES AND THEIR MAORI REFLEXES

Abbreviations: MAO = Maori, HAW = Hawai’ian, MQA = Marquesan, RAR = Rarotongan, TAH = Tahitian, PCE = Proto-Central/Eastern Polynesian, PCK = Proto-Maori-Rarotongan, PEP = Proto- Eastern Polynesian, PNP = Proto-Nuclear Polynesian, PTA = Proto-Tahitic, PPN = Proto-Polynesian.

PPN *aka “creeper sp. (Pueraria sp)”. MAO aka “vines (Metrosideros spp.)”. PPN *ake “a tree”. MAO ake “small trees (Dodonaea spp.)”. PTA *aruhe “a fern”. MAO aruhe “the edible rhizome of Bracken ( Pteridium esculentum)”\ rau-aruhe, rarauhe “Bracken (Pteridium esculentum)”. PPN *fara “Pandanus”. MAO wharawhara, puu-wharawhara, koo-wharawhara “an epiphytic plant ( Astelia banksii)”. PPN *fau “a tree (Hibiscus tiliaceus)M. MAO whau “tree sp.”. PPN *fau-sele “a plant, probably Hibiscus sp” MAO houhere “a tree whose inner bark is used for lashing ( Hoheria sp.)” PCE *fekii “Banana sp.”. MAO whekii “a tree-fern sp. (Dicksonia squarrosa)”. PPN *foulua “plant sp.”. MAO houhere “a tree whose inner bark is used for lashing (. Hoheria populnea)'\ PPN *fue “a seashore creeping vine”. MAO hue “gourd plant (Lagenaria vulgaris)". PPN *fune “downy or furry; downy core of breadfruit”. MAOhune “pappus of raupo seeds; down (of birds etc.)”. PPN *futi “Banana”. MAO hutihuti “ a sweet-potato variety”. PMP *futu “a tree (Barringtonia asiatica)”. MAO hutu “ a tree (Ascarina lucida)”', poohutukawa “a tree (.Metrosideros excelsa)”’, hutukawa “a tree (Metrosideros tomentosa)”. PPN *kafika “a tree, Malay apple (Szygium malaccensis)”. MAO kahikatea ilPodocarpus excelsum”; kahika “Metrosideros excelsa, Podocarpus excelsumkahikaatoa “Leptospermum scoparium PPN *kaso, PCE *kaakaho “reed sp.” MAO kaakaho “culm ofArundo conspicua”. PPN *kalaka “a tree (Planchonella sp.)”. MAO karaka “Corynocarpus laevigata”. PTA *kaanuka “tree sp. with hard wood”. MAO kaanuka “Tea-tree (Leptospermum ericoides)”. PCE *kaaretu “a fragrant plant”. MAO kaaretu “a scented grass ( Hierochloê antarctica)”. PTA *kauli “a tree”. MAO kauri “a tree (Dacrydium sp.)”. PPN *kawa "a shrub (Piper methysticum) and drink made from it”. MAO kawa(kawa) “a shrub (Macropiper excelsum)”. PPN *kie “Pandanus sp. used for making fine mats”, PNP *kie-kie “Plant sp. ( Freycinetia sp.)”. MAO kiekie “Freycinetia banksii”. PCE *kiwa “a fern”. MAO kiwakiwa “a fern”. PCE *koofai “a pod-bearing plant”. MAO koowhai “trees (Sophora spp.)”; koowhai-kura “Geum urbanum and Pontentina anserina ”. P?? *kofufu “a plant”. MAO koohuhu, koowhiwhi “a tree (Pittosporum tenuifolium)”. PEO *koka “tree sp. (Bischofia javanica)”. MAO koka “some edible plant”. PPN *koli “tree or shrub sp. with perfumed fruit”. MAO korikori “a buttercup Ranunculus(, insignis)'\ PNP *kolo-puka “a tree”. MAO koropuka “a shrub (Gaultheria antipoda)”. A Linguist Revisits the New Zealand Bush 71

PCE *koonini “a plant species”. MAO koonini “edible fruit ofFuchsia excorticata .CK *koopii “plant sp.”. MAO koopii “a tree sp. (Corynocarpus laevigata)”. .CK *kootuku “a plant”. MAO kootukutuku “Fuchsia excorticata”. PPN *kulu “Breadfruit”. MAOkuru “a tree mentioned in tradition”. PPN *kuta “a reed”. MAO kuta “a reed (Scirpus lacustris)”. PCE *laataa “a tree (Metrosideros sp.)”. MAO raataa “(Metrosideros spp.)”. PPN *lewa “a tree (Cerbera sp.)”. MAO rewa(rewa) “a tree (Knightia excelsa) with long narrow leaves”. PPN *luna “a herb”. MAO runa “Dock (Rumex flexuosus) and a shrub (Plagianthus divaricatus )”. PNP *maafaqi “a climbing or creeping plant”. MAO maawhai “plants (Sicyas angulata and Cassytha paniculatdf ’. PPN *mahele “a fern or a sedge”. MAO maaereere “a fern or a sedge”. PPN *mahuku “grass”. MAO mauku, mouku “plants (Cordyline pumilio, Asplenium bulbiferum)”. PNP “maika “Banana (Musa sp.)”. MAO maaikaika “Orthoceras s trie turn, with edible bulb and other plants”. PPN *maile “a fragrant vine or shrub (Alyxia sp.)”. MAO maire “Olea spp.”, maire-hau “a fragrant shrub (Phebalium nudum)”, maire-raunui “Nestegis cunninghamii”, maire-taiki “Mida salicifolia”, maire-tawake “Eugenia maire”. PPN *mako “a tree (Trichospermum richii, Tiliaceae)”. MAO mako(mako) “Wineberry (Aristotelia serrata, Tiliaceae)”. PCE *mamaku “fern sp.”. MAO mamaku “a tree-fern (Cyathea medullaris)”. PPN *mamai “a plant”. MAO maamaangi “a shrub (Coprosma repens)”. PPN *manapau “tree sp.”. MAO manapau “a tree mentioned in tradition”. PCE *maanawa “shore tree species”. MAO maanawa “Mangrove (Avicennia officinalis)”. PPN *manono “a kind of tree”. MAO manono “a small tree (Coprosma australis)”. PNP *maanuka “tree sp.”. MAO maanuka “a tree (Leptospermum spp.)”. PNP *maqafai “creeper sp.”. MAO maawhai “Sicyas angulata, Cassytha paniculata”. PPN *maqota “a tree (Dysoxylum sp.)”. MAO maaota “a tree (Dysoxylum spectabile); fresh-grown, green”. PPN *mati “a tree (Ficus tinctoria)”. MAO maati “fruit ofFuchsia”. PNP *nau “a plant (Lepidium sp.)”. MAO nau “(.Lepidium oleraceum)”. PCE *naupata “a plant (Scaevola sp.)”. MAO naupata “Coprosma repens”. PTA *neinei “a tree”. MAO neinei “a tree (Dracophyllum latifolium)”. PCE *niikau “Coconut frond”. MAO niikau “a palm (Rhopalostylis sapida)”. PPN *niu “Coconut palm (Cocos nucifera)”. MAO niu “divining stick”. PTA *nono “a shrub (Morinda citrifolia)”. MAO nonokia “a shrub (Pomaderris apatela)”. PCE *ijaio “a tree (Myoporum sp.)”. MAO ngaio “a tree (Myoporum laetum)”. PFJ *yeei)ee “a shrub”. MAO ngenge “a shrub”. PCE *pai “a plant”. MAO pai “Spear Grass (Aciphylla sp.)”. P?? *pakilar)i “a tree”. MAO pakiraki “a tree (southern dialect)”. PPN *pala “a tree-fern”. MAO para “King-fem (Marattia salicina )”. PPN *pele “a plant (Hibiscus manihot)”. MAO pere “shrubs (, Alseuosmia linariifolia)”. pereli “an orchid with tuberous roots ( Gastrodia cunninghamii)”. PPN *pilita “a yam (Dioscorea pentaphylla)”. MAO pirita “a liane, Supplejack(Rhipogonum scandens)”. PCK *poofutukawa “a tree”. MAO poohutukawa “a tree (Metrosideros excelsa)”. PMP *pola “plaited coconut leaf’. MAO pora “coarse cloak, floor mat”. PPN *polo “a plant (Solanum sp.)”. MAO po(ro)poro “plants (Solanum spp.)”. PPN *pooniu “a plant (Cardiospermum halicacabum)”. MAO poniu “a plant (Rorippa islandica)”. PPN *porja “a tree-fern”. MAO ponga, kaponga “a tree-fern (iCyathea dealbata)”. PPN *pua “(Fagraea berteriana) or other tree with showy flowers”. MAO pua “flower”. PPN *puka “a tree (Hernandia pisonia, Pisonia peltata)”. MAO puka “trees (Meryta sinclairii, Eugenia maire, Griselina lucisa, Muhlenbeckia australis”, pukapuka “ repanda”. PPN *pukatea “a tree (Pisonia sp.)”. MAO pukatea “a tree (Laurelia novaezelandiae)”. PPN *qufi “Yam (Dioscorea esculenta)”. MAO u(w)hi “Yam (Dioscorea sp.)”. PCE *reto “an aquatic plant”. MAO retoreto, returetu “an aquatic fern (Azolla rubra)”. PCK *sarje “a tree (Geniostoma sp.)”. MAO hangehange “a small tree (Geniostoma ligustifolium)”. P?? *sinasina “a plant”. MAO hinahina “a tree (Melicytus ramiflorus) (eastern dialects)”. PCE *soloeka “a tree”. MAO horoeka “a tree (Pseudopanax crassifolium)”. PTA *tafifi “a tree or vine”. MAO tawhiwhi “a tree (Pittosporum tenuifolium)', a climber (Parsonsia heterophylla)”. PTA *taraire “a tree”. MAO taraire “Beilschmiedia tarairi”. PTA *tausinu “a tree”. MAO tauhinu “a shrub (Pomaderris phylicaefolia)”. PPN *tawa “tree species (Pometia pinnata)”. MAO tawa “a tree (Beilschmiedia tawa)”. PPN *tawahi “a tree (Rhus taitensis)”. MAO tawai “large trees (Nothofagus spp.)”. PPN *tewe “a poison plant ( Amorphophallus campanulatus)”. MAO tewe “fermented juice of a poisonous plant (Coriaria arborea)”. PPN *tiale “flower (Gardenia sp.)”. MAO tiiare, tiere “scent”. PPN *toa “a tree (Casuarina sp.)”. MAO toatoa “a tree (Phyllocladus trichomanoides)”. PEP *toromiro “a tree”. MAO toromiro “Podocarpus ferrugineus”. PPN *tutu “a shrub (Colubrina asiatica)”. MAO tutu “a shrub (Coriaria spp.)”. 72 Bruce Biggs

NOTES

1. This paper is a revised and expanded version of Biggs 1990. 2. Polynesian plant names not found in Eastern Polynesia or New Zealand include *aip “Curcuma sp.”, *faatai “a parasitic creeper”, *fesi “Intsia bijuga”, *fetaqu “Calophyllum sp.”, *fiso “Saccharum sp.”, *kalaqapusi “Acalypha grandis”, *kakamika “TAgeratum sp.”, *lekileki “Puzzlenut Xylocarpus( sp.)”, *makari "a tree”, “Scaevola sp.”, *ola “a shrub”, */?

REFERENCES

BIGGS, Bruce, 1990. A Linguist in the New Zealand Bush, in Warwick Harris and P. Kapoor (eds),Nga Mahi o te Wao Nui a Tane. Contributions to an International Workshop on Ethnobotany, Te Rehua Marae, Christchurch, New Zealand, 22-26 February 1988. Auckland, Botany Division, DSIR. BROWN, F.B.H., 1935. Flora of Southeastern Polynesia: III, Dicotyledons. Honolulu, B.P. Bishop Museum Bulletin 130. LAING, R.M., and E.W. BLACKWELL, 1940. Plants of New Zealand Christchurch, Whitcombe & Tombs. 4th Edition. LANGDON, Robert, 1988. The Lost Caravel Re-explored. Canberra, Brolga Press. PUKUI, Mary Kawena, and S.H. ELBERT, 1965. Hawaiian-English dictionary. Honolulu, University of Press. WILLIAMS, Herbert H., 1917. A Dictionary of the Maori Language. 5th Edition. Wellington. (1st Edition, 1844, published as A Dictionary of the New Zealand Language.)

ON THE BOTANICAL LIFE-FORM “TREE”

Cecil H. Brown Northern Illinois University

In 1977 I assembled cross-language evidence indicating that languages lexically encode in a more-or-less fixed order a certain set of highly inclusive botanical life-form categories (“tree”, “grerb” [grass + herb], “vine”, “bush”, and “grass”). In doing so, I proposed that the membership of these classes is perceptually motivated since it is established in terms of a “small number of distinctive features pertaining to thzform of the whole plant (gross morphology) (Brown 1977:320). Thus, “tree”, for example, was defined as a “larger plant (relative to the plant inventory of a particular environment) whose parts are chiefly ligneous (woody)” (1977:321). An important understanding of my 1977 study and of subsequent treatments (Brown 1979b, 1982, 1984a), as Randall and Hunn (1984:330) correctly observe, is that these categories “have global relevance and therefore are potential universals”. The present paper focuses on “tree”, which is typically the first “universal” botanical life-form class to be lexically encoded by languages. Recently, there has been considerable debate concerning the ontological status of “tree” (Atran 1985, 1987; Hunn 1982, 1987; Randall and Hunn 1984; Brown 1984b). For example, Hunn (1982) argues that “tree” is not based on “overall morphology” as I proposed in 1977. Rather, he (1982:837) suggests that the near universal naming of a category inclusive of large woody plants “lies in the universal practical value of ‘trees’ rather than in the perceptual salience of ‘tree’”. In a later discussion, Hunn (1987) modifies this view somewhat by arguing that “tree” is indeed “perceptually compelling”. It is now my view that both utilitarian and perceptual considerations underlie development of “tree” categories. To appreciate this