archipelago in the the mid-pacific basin. And at the same time it is the name for the biggest of the seven main islands. However the "word" means so, so much more than that.
For now though lets clarify that there is seven main islands. they stretch from the south east to north west in a gentle arc lying at about a 45 degree angle. To the southeast the (by far biggest) is named Hawai'i then Maui, Moloka'i, O'ahu, and Kaua'i. I realize I had said seven main islands and only named five, However at look at the map should explain that further.
Maui county as it is known today is actually made up of four islands, the island of Maui, Moloka'i, Lana'i and Kaho'olawe. Moloka'i is next most populated then would be Lana'i. Kaho'olawe is not populated at this time (at this time). Kaho'olawe (the original name is Kohemalamalamaokanaloa) was for many a year and still is in the grips of the US. navy.The navy was using the island for many decades as a bombing practise target. Consequently at this time the land is all but destroyed, the bulk of all the vegetation has been stripped and the subsequent erosion of precious topsoil is on a par with Madagascar.
The Navy/ federal government claims they have returned the island to the Hawaiian people. This is just another fluff or cover story though.They will not let the Hawaiians have free reign of their island again untill the navy is satisfied that they have ultimately cleaned up any and or all unexploded ordinances. Well this is simply a bad joke, with you, me and the Hawaiian people taking the brunt. They ( the navy) have many times now appropriated lumps of federal dollars, ie: your taxes, to simply "noodle around" out there till the monies are gone. These have typically been 40 million dollar appropriations.
Ok enough about the desecration of one of our sacred island and the bamboozle about it's clean up and supposed return to the Hawaiian nation. If you are interested and want to read more about it, or perhaps even get involved, Protect Kaho'olawe Ohana Is the group of Hawaiian citizen who have the present steward ship of the island.
Back to the meaning of the words "H a" "W a i" and "I"
Thats right the word Hawai'i is like Kaleoaloha, a compound word. The first break down gives us the three words.
Means the "breathe of life".
There is no literal english translation
In literal english means, "fresh water"
In it's metaphoric use means, "The water of life"
or the"living waters"
This word is literally, the word/ or tone denoting or implying
the concept of a supreme God, original conscienceness.
Hawaiians would as a culture, refrain from speaking directly about the supreme.
Yes "Ha" literally means the breathe of life:
The "haw. Dic" defines the word thus, first context: The number four and various modifications of the number.
For the second context: To breathe, exhale: to breathe upon, as kava after praying and before prognosticateing:
life, breathe. And then it gives usage examples.
"Ha ke akua I ka lewa", "God breathed into the open space".
"Wai" is defined literally as any fluid other than sea water/ Kai. So any fluid as fruit juice or coconut milk, male ejaculatory, a women's menstrual fluid. When the rain/ ua falls from the sky, it accumulates as "wai". So you see Wai is any and or all fluids, but with an emphasis on vital fluids. "Or life/ living waters"
The word "I" ( yes indeed this singular vowel is a whole word unto itself) is the word/ tone of the supreme god, the initial conscienceness, the lord almighty, Jehovah, Jesus Christ or what ever name or title you wish to assign to "your" concept of an ultimate creator. In older times a Hawaiian would refuse to speak directly about the one or ultimate God, as they felt man and his conscienceness could by no means grasp the volume or full scope of the existence of God. So to speak of "It/ He/ She" was only to "pigeon hole" or be little the enormity and omnipresent of the creator.
much like the word or concept of "polynesia" the word Hawaiian does not exist within the hawaiian language. Instead it is simply an imposition of a western world.
At this point I would be inclined to answer the question: "well if Hawaiians were polytheistic/ or believed in not just multiple, but a whole pantheon of Gods/ Goddesses and lesser deities, than how can it be that they believed in a singular and or ultimate God? Well lets just look quickly at the Greek pantheon, they (the greeks) believed in a pantheon and yet "Zeus" was the honcho or "top dog" if you will. Yes Hawaiians believe in a pantheon, and an ultimate God. Seems contradictory yuh? Not if you look at it like this.
A hawaiian would typically respond by saying "He hawai'i Au" which literally translates as: "I am Hawai'i".
IN the beginning there was nothing only the Creator. The creator breathed the "Word" and with it began to fill the universe with both material creation but more importantly all of life itself. From the Creator came all. And all is/ was created in his image/ likeness.
Therefore all the lesser Gods/ Goddesses and deities are not (just like you and I) a separate entity from the creator, but instead an aspect or facet of the initial conscienceness.
In my copy of the bible Genesis, chapter one, stanza #26 it states "And God said, letUS make man in Our image"
-m o t l-
So the word Hawai'i quite literally means from "The breathe of life" comes the "Water of life" which emanate from the "I" or supreme/ initial conscienceness.
Mai ka lae o ke kumukahi Ha'ule iho mai nei, ka Wai Ola.
From the brow of the supreme source, droops/ falls/ descends, here to the core of all. The spiritual energy of life,
It took me a long time to understand why or how my kumu/ teachers would say of me "you are a good Hawaiian" when in actuallity I am a Caucasian born and brought up in Boston, very far from Hawai'i nei. Then as I learned more I began to understand that they did not mean this as an ethnic statement, but rather a spiritual one. That since I embrace as a spiritual and unassailable truth that there is a living, all pervasive life energy (in Hawai'i we call this energy Mana) and that it is the living water of life, which emanate from the creator!
Are you/ we, all mankind, -Na Hawaii-?
DO YOU NEED FRESH AIR-, and believe that there is more contained in air than simply the various gases of oxygen, nitrogen etc.?
IS CLEAN FRESH WATER MANDATORY-and therefore sacred to you, and all living things of earth and sky ?
DO YOU ENTERTAIN THE POSSIBILITY- that all living things either manifest or are the manifestation of a higher creative energy ?
DID YOU COME INTO THIS WORLD- by the berthing process of your mother. Did your parents give you an Inoa/ name at or around the time of your birth. Do you have grandparents, great grandparents, great greats, etc:
DO YOU HAVE- whether traceable or not, a distinct genealogy ?
If you answered yes to those five questions then I must warn you, if you continue to read about what is a "hawaiian", I might just show you that regardless of ethnicity, social upbringing, national allegiance, or whatever anyone else might tell you, you just might also be
a "GOOD HAWAIIAN" >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
please read on-
Long before the New england missionaries came and distorted the word "Kapu" from the meaning of "Sacred" to rather mean "Forbidden",
even before the Tahitian warriors came and distorted "Kauwa"(- outcast, no name, stuck in time-) to mean "Slave",
There was spoken in these islands a "Sacred" language. Although it has suffered many waves of "outsiders" wishing to bend the meanings to fit their belief system, the "root" remains immovable.
Within this language lies great wisdom,
as it is truly a "Sacred" language.
'E Ho'omau A 'E Ola I ta Olelo Kakou !