Origins of Māori bird names
Research into indigenous methods for bird naming provides valuable insights
E koekoe te tūī, e ketekete te kākā, e kūkū te kererū.
The tūī chatters, the parrot gabbles, the wood pigeon coos.
This popular phrase, which also means ‘it takes all kinds of people...’, inspired our collaborators, Tom Roa and Hēmi Whaanga (University of Waikato) and Paul Scofield (Canterbury Museum), to investigate indigenous methods of bird naming. Their research into naming native and introduced birds in Aotearoa (New Zealand) provides some valuable insights.
Tom and his colleagues tell us that each iwi and hapū have different intrinsic relationships to particular taonga species. The hapū of Ngai Tahu that harvest muttonbirds or tītī, for example, have a wealth of names for those birds, which reflect the cultural landscape they live in.
Some of the earliest written Māori bird names, found by Tom and his colleagues, suggest that some dialects and names have disappeared. In the 1830s, for example, the French scientists on the Astrolabe in Nelson recorded the name of the grey warbler or riroriro as ‘Igata’. A name that no longer seems to be used.
Tom and his team have developed a database of known Māori bird names, their origins and associated naming protocols. We will collaborate with them to build on their work, and contribute new information on how Māori bird names are used in regional reporting.