Introduction
In the Hawaiian culture, words have power, significance and mana. The Hawaiian language is related to the Marquesan language and the word "haole" is believed to be related to the Marquesan word "hao‘e". The roots of haole stem from the Hawaiian words "ha", meaning breath, and "ole", meaning not, nothing, lacking or without. Hence it literally translates into and means "without breath" or "breathless". (William Pila Chiles, "The Secrets and Mysteries of Hawaii", Health Communications, Inc. (1995) at p. 169). The Hawaiians practiced a form of "breath greeting" called "honi", which the Maori of New Zealand or Aotearoa still practice today. The first people that came from outside of Hawaii (Hawai‘i) were people of European origin, (especially British ((English, Scottish, Welsh, and Irish)) or Spanish, arriving in the Hawaiian Islands as shipwrecked survivors or voyagers, and hence did not practice the Polynesian form of "breath greeting" or "breathing one another in while pressing noses". They were called haole. The Ancient Hawaiians practiced a form of religion called huna which revealed a belief that there were two places on Earth. The first place was between the tropics, the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn. The first place was called "Haloa" or the "far-reaching breath". ("Ha" means breath and "loa" means long or far-reaching). The people of Haloa were called "Hamau". The second place is outside of the Tropics or Haloa and was called "Haole". People outside of Haloa were therefore called Haole. The first person believed to have used the word haole was Paumakua.
Origins
Hawaiian Mythology, Legend and Origins
Early in the history of Hawai‘i, in ancient times, after the arrival of Polynesians and before Captain James Cook, Hawai‘ian legends refer to Paumakua traveling to foreign lands or lands outside of the Hawai‘ian Islands. Upon returning from a foreign voyage, Paumakua brought two white men of priestly status called Aukahinu and Auakamea, later named Kaekae and Maliu, who became the ancestors of Hawai‘ian priestly families. On another foreign voyage Paumakua returned to Hawai‘i with three white persons, Kukahauula, Kukalepa and Haina-Pole (two men and one woman). In Hawai‘ian legend "[t]he white foreigners who came with Paumakua were 'Ka haole nui, maka alohilohi, ke aholehole , maka aa, ka puaa keokeo nui, maka ukauka' and translates as 'foreigners of large stature, bright sparkling eyes, white cheeks, rogish, staring eyes, large white hogs with reddish faces'." (Fornanders' Ancient History of the Hawaiian People, Abraham Fornanders, Mutual Publishing (1999) at p. 25.)
History
In the past, haole (sometimes spelled howlie or howly) referred to anyone who was not from Hawaii (kanaka maoli being the opposite) and was not considered an insult in the slightest. Ever before that, haole had an occult meaning, like many words in the Hawaiian language. Haole meant "those who do not breathe" and was used to describe the dead, as well as the gods (see Hawaiian mythology).
In AD 1778, Capt. James Cook came to Hawai'i, on board the HMS Resolution. By coincidence, he landed at Kealakekua Bay, a sacred spot on the Big Island: Ke-ala-ke-kua means "the place where the god arrives and leaves" or literally, "pathway [of] the god." By further coincidence (it is believed), he arrived in the middle of the Makahiki festival (Lono-i-ka-makahiki) devoted to Lono, one of the supreme gods in Hawaiian mythology. Lono had left the island, but promised to return on a floating island.
Cook and his men were English, and the Hawaiians thought them much too pale than possible for a living person who breathed; they were called haole. The word then picked up an additional nuance when Cook's crew, despite his forbidding it, snuck ashore and had sexual intercourse with many of the native women, infecting them with a venereal disease they had picked up from the French in Tahiti. Many died; and thus the white settlers, the haole, brought death, proving that they, themselves, were dead.
Redefinition and Past Usage
- From "without breath"
- To "foreigner"
- To "foreigner, white man"
- To "foreigner, white man, white person"
- To "foreigner, white man, white person, white skin, Caucasian"
- To "foreigner, white man, white person, white skin,Caucasian,outsider, non-local, Mainland Caucasian, Military person"
- Sounds like "Howlie"
Present Usage
The Future
External Links
References
- Andrews, Lorrin (2003). "A Dictionary of the Hawaiian Language", Island Heritage Publishing.
- Aoki, Andrew Hiroshi (1995). "American Democracy in Hawaii: Finding a Place for Local Culture", 17 U. Haw. L. Rev. 605, University of Hawaii Press.
- Dudley, Michael Kioni (1993). "A Hawaiian Nation I: Man, Gods, And Nature", Na Kane O Ka Malo Press.
- Fornanders, Abraham (1999). "Fornanders' Ancient Hawaiian History of the Hawaiian People", Mutual Publishing.
- Judd, Hernry P., Pukui, Mary Kawena, and Stokes, John F. G., (1995). "Handy Hawaiian Dictionary", Mutual Publishing.
- Kane, Herb Kawanui (1997). "Ancient Hawaii", Kawainui Press.
- Malo, David (1951). "Hawaiian Antiquities (Moolelo Hawaii)", Bernice P. Bishop Museum.
- Pukui, Mary Kawena and Elbert, Samuel H. (1992). "New Pocket Hawaiian Dictionary", University of Hawaii Press.