Aloha

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Aloha (pronounced [əˈlo.hə]) is the Hawaiian word for love, affection, peace, compassion and mercy, that is commonly misused as a simple greeting.[1][2]

Etymology

Like most words, the origins of the Hawaiian word; aloha are a bit of a mystery. The word goes back to the very origins of Hawaii to Kahiki (the homeland) and even further. The word is found in all Polynesian languages and always with the same basic meaning of: love, compassion, sympathy and kindness. It's beginnings may be seen in the Maori definition as "love of kin". Mary Kawena Pukui wrote that the "first expression" of aloha was between a parent and child. [3] The word has become a part of the English vocabulary in an awkward misuse.[4][5][6] The Oxford English Dictionary defines the word as a "greeting" like "welcome" and "farewell" using a number of examples dating back as far as 1798. The term has come to epitomize the appropriation of the Hawaiian Language and the cultural dispossession of Native Hawaiians.[4]

Lorrin Andrews wrote the first Hawaiian Dictionary called; "A dictionary of the Hawaiian language".[7] In it he describes aloha as; "A word expressing different feelings; love, affection, gratitude, kindness, pity, compassion, grief, the modern common salutation at meeting; parting". Mary Kawena Pukui and ‎Samuel H. Elbert's; "Hawaiian Dictionary: Hawaiian-English, English-Hawaiian" also write a similer definition. Anthropologist, Frances Newton states that; "Aloha is a complex and profound sentiment. Such emotions defy definition". Hawaiians believe the concept to be unique, with no English equivalent.[8]

See also

Citations

  1. ↑ Pukui 1986, p. 21.
  2. ↑ Van Valkenburg 2012, p. 69.
  3. ↑ George Hu'eu Kanahele; George S. Kanahele (1992). Ku Kanaka—Stand Tall: A Search for Hawaiian Values. University of Hawaii Press. p. 470. ISBN 978-0-8248-1500-4. C1 control character in |title= at position 10 (help)
  4. 1 2 Sämi Ludwig (7 March 2017). American Multiculturalism in Context: Views from at Home and Abroad. Cambridge Scholars Publishing. p. 287. ISBN 978-1-4438-7482-3.
  5. ↑ Janie Guy Winter (30 December 2010). World Peace: A Possible Dream. Xlibris Corporation. p. 243. ISBN 978-1-4568-2416-7.
  6. ↑ First Pan-Pacific Educational Conference, Honolulu, August 11-24, 1921: Held Under the Auspices of the Pan-Pacific Union and Called by the U. S. Department of Education. Invitations for Participation of Pacific Governments Sent Through the Department of State of the United States of America. Program and Proceedings. Pan-Pacific Union. 1921. p. 25.
  7. ↑ David W. Forbes (1998). Hawaiian National Bibliography, Vol 3: 1851-1880. University of Hawaii Press. p. 385. ISBN 978-0-8248-2503-4.
  8. ↑ Anna Wierzbicka (22 October 1992). Semantics, Culture, and Cognition: Universal Human Concepts in Culture-Specific Configurations. Oxford University Press. pp. 152–155. ISBN 978-0-19-536091-2.

References

See also

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