ʻĀiga
/ʔaːiŋa/noun
A Samoan extended family or kinship group, including relatives connected through blood, marriage, and adoption.
Did you know?An ʻāiga is traditionally organized around a matai, or chiefly titleholder, linking family identity to land, service, ancestry, and communal responsibility.
Etymological Timeline
Proto-Polynesian
Proto-Polynesian
*kainga
“Kin, relatives, or a community; the reconstructed ancestor of several Polynesian forms.”
Early Polynesian
Proto-Polynesian
*kainga
“A group connected through shared descent, residence, or belonging.”
Samoan
Samoan
ʻāiga
“Extended family or kin group; the initial consonant of the reconstructed form was lost in Samoan.”
Māori
Māori
kāinga
“Home, village, or extended kin community; a cognate preserved in another Polynesian language.”
Modern English
English
ʻāiga / aiga
“A Samoan extended family or kinship group, used in English-language writing about Samoan society and culture.”