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Michener (and I believe Beckwith) have it as Haviki.... Hawaii being the modernised version - from trip advisor:
"Hawaii by James Michener - A wonderful work of historical fiction traces the history of Hawaii beginning with the first inhabitants from Tahiti, Haviki and Bora Bora running through the end of World War II. Michener's Hawaii is very compelling, weaving family histories through out the book and will hold you captive through all 900+pages."
http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Travel-g292...ading.html
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I like "Island of Hawaii." Easy on the ears and accurate. Spent most of my life on Oahu and it was always Big Island. Island of Hawaii, to me is more respectful, less slangy. Funny thing is, it is not in common use.
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News program reports often say "Hawaii Island"
One Thing I can always be sure of is that things will never go as expected.
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quote:
Originally posted by pahoated
There is more evidence that Hawai'i island was always Hawaii. The word hawaii means homeland. The legend is a polynesian man named Hawaii Loa found the Hawaiian islands.
Owhyhee is what Cook wrote down in his log after asking the natives what the name of the island was.
The other day I saw an article about a wild horse roundup at Owyhee Wilderness in Idaho. Tracing the name, it turns out that the Owyhee River was named that way to honor three "kanakas," as Hawaiian natives were called back in 1820, who were hired to explore the river to its source, but who never returned.
I also found a reference to a a ship called the Brig Owyhee losing its anchor off the coast of Oregon, and that anchor is now exhibited in the Clackamas County Museum.
The switch to the current "Hawai'i" spelling did not come until later in the 1800s, when the phonetic-based written language was developed.
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I have noticed a lot of not Hawaii based documentaries about Hawaii call it "Big Island" without "the" in front. For some reason it just sounds wrong to my ear, I live on "The Big Island" not "Big Island." I don't know why it makes a difference, but it does.
Carol
Carol
Every time you feel yourself getting pulled into other people's nonsense, repeat these words: Not my circus, not my monkeys.
Polish Proverb
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quote:
Originally posted by Bullwinkle
Michener (and I believe Beckwith) have it as Haviki.... Hawaii being the modernised version
Havaiki is the name that Polynesians elsewhere gave to their original homeland across the ocean. It's the Tahitian cognate of Hawai'i, probably originally derived from Savai'i in Samoa.
What makes that especially interesting is that here in the place they called Hawai'i, the name for that homeland is Kahiki, i.e. Tahiti.
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People on the East coast call Washington DC "Washington" and they refer to the state of Washington as "Washington state". On the west coast it's the opposite. The state is called "Washington" and the district of Columbia is referred to as "Washington DC". I think something similar is happening here. When I am communicating with another resident I say I live on "the big island". When I am communicating with somebody from the mainland I say I live "On the big island of Hawaii".
New York City is in New York.
Oregon City is in Oregon.
Hawaii county is in Hawaii.
But Kansas City is in Missouri. I don't ask why. I don't want to know. Oops I googled it. Both Kansas and Missouri have a Kansas City. That's OK. There is a Moscow in Idaho.
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New York City is not New York it's just '' The City ''
