taonga

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Māori.

Noun

taonga (plural taonga or taongas)

  1. (New Zealand) In Maori culture, any treasured thing, whether tangible or intangible.
    • 2013, Radio New Zealand, Waitangi Tribunal visits islands prized as taonga‎[1]:
      The islands and fishing grounds that are now a jewel in the crown of tourism were from the earliest days populated and prized by Maori as taonga.

Māori

Etymology

From Proto-Central Eastern Polynesian *taqoŋa "treasured possession". Cognate with Hawaiian kaona (“hidden meaning”), Tahitian taoʻa, Samoan tōga “special gifts or offerings” and Tongan tōʻonga “custom, habit, conduct, behaviour, characteristic; rite, ceremony”.[1]

Noun

taonga

  1. anything treasured or highly prized
    1. treasure
    2. property

References

  1. ^ Ross, Malcolm D.; Pawley, Andrew; Osmond, Meredith (2023), The lexicon of Proto-Oceanic, volumes 6: People and Society, Canberra: Australian National University, page 412

Further reading

  • Williams, Herbert William (1917), “taonga”, in A Dictionary of the Maori Language, page 445
  • “taonga” in John C. Moorfield, Te Aka: Maori–English, English–Maori Dictionary and Index, 3rd edition, Longman/Pearson Education New Zealand, 2011, →ISBN.
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