This glossary gives definitions for some of the terms used throughout the course. For several of the words, you'll find links to the word entry in the Māori dictionary, where you'll be able to hear how the word is pronounced.
Aotearoa
Māori name for New Zealand, It translates to: ‘Land of the Long White Cloud’.
Bicultural
Partnership between Māori and non-Māori as dictated by the Treaty of Waitangi.
Coyote
North American trickster figure. Typically portrayed as a demiurge, an independent creative force who secured necessities for humans.
Māori
Indigenous people of New Zealand. Māori arrived in Aotearoa more than 700 years ago. In Te Reo Māori, the word māori used to simply mean ‘normal’, ‘natural’ or ‘ordinary’. Māori people only started to use the word in reference to themselves once pākehā came to Aotearoa.
Mātauranga Māori
Māori knowledge and world view, originating from Māori ancestors.
Māui
A demi-god figure in many Polynesian narratives. His full Māori name is Māui-pōtiki.
Te Moana Nui-a-Kiwa
'The Great Ocean of Kiwa’. A poetic name for the Pacific Ocean.
Pacific Rim of Fire
A string of volcanoes and sites of seismic activity around the edges of the Pacific Ocean.
Pākehā
Non-Māori person. Often used to describe NZ Europeans.
Pounamu
Greenstone
Rainbow Serpent
Aboriginal entity of the Dreaming time.
Tangata whenua
People of the land. Māori people.
Tangata Tiriti
People of the Treaty (The Treaty of Waitangi).
Taonga
A treasure, prized object.
Te Ika a Māui
‘The Fish of Māui’. The North Island of New Zealand.
Te reo Māori
The Māori language.
Te Tiriti o Waitangi
The Treaty of Waitangi. New Zealand's founding document.
Te Waipounamu
‘The Land of the Greenstone’. The South Island of New Zealand.
Whenua
Land.