North and South Islands - New Names?
Friday, 24. April 2009, 09:13:28
A move is underway to give New Zealand's two main islands official Maori names as well as to formalise the currently used names North and South.
The New Zealand Geographic Board says it's time to sort out the names for each island after it was discovered no formal names were ever given to the two chunks of land despite more than 200 years of common usage of those names.
The Maori names Te Ika a Maui for the North Island and Te Wai Pounamu for the South Island appeared on early official maps and documents, but from the 1950s that Maori names of the two main islands stopped appearing on official maps.
Maori know North Island as Te Ika a Maui or "the fish of Maui", based on a legend about how the god Maui hauled the island up from the sea while fishing.
The Maori name of South Island was Te Wai Pounamu, which means "place of greenstone" after the island's outcrops of jade, from which tribes traditionally crafted weapons and jewellery.
New Zealand greenstone (or New Zealand jade) is either the mineral nephrite (Maori: pounamu) or bowenite (Maori: tangiwai.) Nephrite is obtained from the Taramakau-Arahura region as river boulders washed down from the parent rock in the Southern Alps; bowenite is found as beach boulders and pebbles at Anita Bay in Milford Sound. Some nephrite is also obtained from the Wakatipu region.
In gemstone quality nephrite is generally known as jade. The name nephrite is derived from lapis nephriticus, which means 'kidney stone' and is the Latin version of the Spanish ‘piedra de ijada’ (the English word 'jade' is indeed derived from the Spanish term ‘piedra de ijada’). Accordingly, nephrite jade was once believed to be a cure for kidney stones.
• http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/australiaandthepacific/newzealand/5194535/New-Zealands-North-and-South-Islands-could-be-renamed.html
• http://tvnz.co.nz/national-news/maori-names-north-and-south-islands-2662407
• http://www.teara.govt.nz/1966/G/Greenstone/Greenstone/en
The New Zealand Geographic Board says it's time to sort out the names for each island after it was discovered no formal names were ever given to the two chunks of land despite more than 200 years of common usage of those names.
The Maori names Te Ika a Maui for the North Island and Te Wai Pounamu for the South Island appeared on early official maps and documents, but from the 1950s that Maori names of the two main islands stopped appearing on official maps.Maori know North Island as Te Ika a Maui or "the fish of Maui", based on a legend about how the god Maui hauled the island up from the sea while fishing.
The Maori name of South Island was Te Wai Pounamu, which means "place of greenstone" after the island's outcrops of jade, from which tribes traditionally crafted weapons and jewellery.
New Zealand greenstone (or New Zealand jade) is either the mineral nephrite (Maori: pounamu) or bowenite (Maori: tangiwai.) Nephrite is obtained from the Taramakau-Arahura region as river boulders washed down from the parent rock in the Southern Alps; bowenite is found as beach boulders and pebbles at Anita Bay in Milford Sound. Some nephrite is also obtained from the Wakatipu region.
In gemstone quality nephrite is generally known as jade. The name nephrite is derived from lapis nephriticus, which means 'kidney stone' and is the Latin version of the Spanish ‘piedra de ijada’ (the English word 'jade' is indeed derived from the Spanish term ‘piedra de ijada’). Accordingly, nephrite jade was once believed to be a cure for kidney stones.• http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/australiaandthepacific/newzealand/5194535/New-Zealands-North-and-South-Islands-could-be-renamed.html
• http://tvnz.co.nz/national-news/maori-names-north-and-south-islands-2662407
• http://www.teara.govt.nz/1966/G/Greenstone/Greenstone/en
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