Sāmoa
/saːˈmoa/noun
Sāmoa is the Indigenous Samoan name for the island country commonly called Samoa.
Did you know?The popular translation “sacred center” is widely repeated but remains uncertain; traditional explanations connect the name with elements such as sā, meaning sacred or forbidden, and moa, but no single derivation is proven.
Etymological Timeline
Proto-Polynesian
Proto-Polynesian
*Sāmoa
“A reconstructed ancestral form proposed for the name, though its deeper internal meaning is uncertain.”
Pre-European Samoa
Samoan
Sāmoa
“The Indigenous name for the Samoan islands and people’s homeland.”
1722
Dutch
Samoa
“European records begin using forms of the island name after Jacob Roggeveen’s voyage.”
18th–19th Century
English
Samoa
“The name becomes established in English geographical and colonial writing.”
Modern English
English
Samoa
“The common English name for the independent Pacific island nation; Sāmoa remains the Samoan form.”