Words From The Land Of The Long White Cloud: New Zealand English Additions To The Oxford English Dictionary

14 March 2023 – Announcement of New Zealand English additions to the Oxford English Dictionary

In its latest update, the Oxford English Dictionary (OED) is shining a spotlight on the country that the Māori people, its first inhabitants, originally called Aotearoa – the land of the long white cloud.

This batch of 47 New Zealand English words includes general Kiwi expressions such as after-ball (a noun referring to an event, especially a party, that takes place after a ball), chur (an interjection similar to ‘cheers!’, used colloquially to express good wishes on meeting or departing), and Kiwiness (a noun signifying the quality or fact of being from New Zealand and to characteristics regarded as typical of New Zealand or New Zealanders).

Most of the words in this latest update are borrowings from Māori – or te reo – one of New Zealand’s official languages. The Māori renaissance that began in the 1970s has seen Māori language and culture moving to the centre of national life in New Zealand. This is reflected in the substantial number of Māori words that have become part of the vocabulary of both Māori and Pakeha (non-Māori) English speakers, many of which are making it into the OED for the first time.

The oldest word of Māori origin in this update is whenua (land, or piece of land, especially a Māori person’s native land). Its use in English can be traced back to the 18th century, first attested in Captain James Cook’s journals in 1770. Several other words in this update are used in Māori contexts to speak about the land, such as turangawaewae, meaning a place where one belongs or has established a right of residence.

A responsibility of care guides the way that Māori relate to the land and environment: the word kaitiaki is a great example of this, and is used in English to refer to a guardian or steward of the natural resources of an environment or place. In this same category, rahui denotes a formal or ritualized prohibition against entering an area or undertaking an activity, typically enacted in order to protect a resource.

As ever, the OED editors have scoured the archives, novels, newspapers, and even Twitter for examples of these words to illustrate their use and development in English. The earliest example of koha (meaning a gift or offering) in English, for example, was found in Keri Hulmes’ 1984 novel The Bone People, a text famous for its liberal use of Māori words. Another citation was found in an edition of the Wellington Evening Post in 1995 without italics or an accompanying definition, indicating that it was of sufficient currency among the paper’s readership to be widely understood ten or so years later. A quote from the New Zealand Herald which accompanies the word e hoa (an address for a friend or mate) cites a note sent by Finance Minister Grant Robertson to Labour MP Kiri Allan in 2021 using borrowings for Māori liberally: “Kia ora e hoa, we are missing you here today but I can feel your wairua and aroha from here.”

Danica Salazar, Executive Editor for World Englishes for the Oxford English Dictionary, says, “It is clear that the Māori language has had a profound and lasting impact on English in New Zealand. The OED continues to record and add Māori contributions as it monitors the evolution of English globally.”

The OED is grateful to Prof John Macalister of Victoria University of Wellington for his work as the dictionary’s consultant on the etymology of Māori words used in NZ English. He says: “The language is a window into our changing nation. It’s fascinating to see how quickly people respond to – or resist – social change through the language they use.”

To learn more about New Zealand English in the OED, visit the New Zealand page of the OED World English Hub. There you can read the blog post, ‘Introduction to New Zealand English’ by Dr Elizabeth Gordon, Adjunct Associate Professor at the University of Canterbury. You can also read this blog post by Dr Matthew Moreland, the OED’s Senior Consultant Phonetics Editor, on describing the pronunciation of Māori-origin words in New Zealand English.

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