term, as, unlike mangu,[1] it does not carry with it the idea of relative luminosity.
To express the quality of redness we find whero, kura, ngangana, uraura, mumura, and in addition to these huru kehu to describe red hair, and kokowai, red ochre; but neither of these words was ever applied to describe redness in anything but human hair and ochre.
All the words for expressing redness, except ngangana, may I think be traced to Ra, and connect the Maori idea of that colour with the brilliant rays of the sun. Ngangana is not the word generally used to express the quality of redness, but only certain appearances of it, as in flowers or blood-shot eyes. "Ka hete ngangana o te puawai o te rata! = How brilliant is the crimson of the rata flowers!" Whero is the most commonly used term. Kura is used very often instead of whero to describe redness in any inanimate object, and is figuratively applied to anything very highly prized, probably because the scarlet feathers of the kaka, which were highly prized, were called kura. It is worthy of remark that raukura is the word for feathers. Rau means leaf, and also thatch, from leaves being used for thatching. Was the term kura for red suggested by the brilliant plumage of tropical birds?
Ura = redness, and muniura = flame, were employed to describe the flushing cheek of the warrior, or the heightened colour of the maiden. Red was the sacred colour with which sacred places and things were painted, and with which chiefs adorned their persons.
Yellow and green were recognized, not as abstract conceptions of colour, but only as they are associated with objects. Puakowhai, or kowhai flower, is the term which represents yellow; but waipakurakura is sometimes applied to yellow liquids with an orange tint = reddish-yellow.
Kakariki or kakawariki = green. It is worthy of remark that the word representing green has no reference to the hue of the bird's plumage, it means literally, little parrot. This word, slightly altered to kakawariki, means green lizard; and I have sometimes heard kawakawa used to describe green. Pounamu or greenstone, of which there are at least six varieties, (each known by a name descriptive of the particular tint by which it is distinguished) is sometimes used now as a colour term. Karupounamu = green-eyed, is the term applied to persons with light-coloured hazel eyes, but I never heard pounamu used to describe the colour of the sea, some hues of which it exactly resembles. Although the New Zealand flora is so rich in its varied tints of green, no impression of its prevailing colour seems to
- ↑ Ink was mangumangu, also ngarahu = ash, but the latter word conveyed no idea of colour. Ink for tattooing was called ngarahu because made with pine-ash, hence our ink came to be called ngarahu.
