Moana-nui-a-Kiwa
/ˌmoːana ˈnui a ˈkiwa/noun
A Māori name for the Pacific Ocean, literally describing it as the great ocean associated with Kiwa.
Did you know?In Māori tradition, Kiwa is an ancestral figure associated with the Pacific, so the name frames the ocean as a living genealogical realm rather than merely a geographic feature.
Etymological Timeline
Proto-Polynesian
Proto-Polynesian
*moana
“Open sea or deep ocean”
Pre-contact Polynesian
Polynesian
moana
“Sea or ocean; the term spread widely across Polynesian languages”
Traditional Māori
Māori
Moana-nui-a-Kiwa
“The great ocean of Kiwa”
19th Century
Māori/English
Moana-nui-a-Kiwa
“A traditional Māori name used for the Pacific Ocean”
Modern English
English
Moana-nui-a-Kiwa
“A Māori name for the Pacific Ocean, increasingly used in English-language cultural, educational, and geographic contexts”
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