Talk:Longfin mako shark

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[edit] Disputed

The article says that Mako is from the Maori for 'blue lightning' (with no source citation), however this BBC article says that it is from the Maori for 'man eater'. I've added a 'disputed' template until we can clear this up. Cynical 11:32, 5 August 2006 (UTC)

Good pickup. I cannot find the answer, & have asked contacts in NZ to find out. GrahamBould 11:01, 7 August 2006 (UTC)

To complicate matters:

• The Florida Museum of Natural History claims it 'is derived from the Maori term mako, which translated means "shark".'[1] I found a lot of references to this, but it doesn't tell us the Maori etymology (it may mean shark now but be derived from some other term)
• http://www.maori.info/maori_language.htm claims it means "mako shark"
• http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=mako claims it just comes from Maori

The 'blue lightning' translation I could only find here: http://new-england-aquarium-giftshop.stores.yahoo.net/bullsharks.html and the 'man-eater' translation is only popular with the BBC and a news site in Wales. Some sport fishing sites claim "mako-mako" means man-eater but they seem to copy from each other. I discovered that "Tane" is Maori for "Man" so mako is unlikely to mean man-eater if it is a simple compound.

I propose we say "the name Mako comes from Maori", since no source seems to dispute this, and cite one of the online etymological dictonaries. Yomangani^talk 00:30, 12 August 2006 (UTC)

Done. If one of my kiwi contacts finds the real verifiable origin I'll update the article. There is a suggestion that Zane Grey popularised the name as he moved between game-fishing venues world-wide. GrahamBould 06:09, 12 August 2006 (UTC)