The Iliahi Foundation of Hawai'i

The Hawaiian Language


Here are some everyday greetings and salutations you can use in your letters and email.


Before we can present the Aloha word, the most commonly used word in the Hawaiian language today, there are three other words we must understand first.

"O'hana" is the Hawaiian word for family. The Hawaiian context assumes a much grander grouping than English in that it expands to welcome and embrace ALL of the peoples, aunts, cousins, other relatives, neighbors, friends and people living nearby in association with each other. In addition the word O'hana has a hospitality connotation which allows the feeling of family to expand to include new comers to the area. Taken to its logical conclusion, it really means the entire "family of humankind". The concept of O'hana (extended family) has from the beginning been understood by the Hawaiians better than by most peoples of the world. It must be understood within the larger context of Aloha, the gentle word which is the heart of Hawaii.

"Ko'kua" means help and cooperation between all O'hana members.

"Ho'oponopono" means the just and peaceful settlement of disputes through community arbitration.

 Now we can begin to talk about the word Aloha.

Putting an exact definition on the word Aloha perhaps is not possible because it is as variable as the individuals who use it and the context within which it is used. Defining the Aloha word is much like coming up with a definition for God. We must understand the surrounding context at the time the word Aloha is used. It expresses sentiments between adoring, loving and respectful people. And it expresses an overall feeling for the sum totality of the community within which individual relationships of love and caring take place. It is perhaps the most ubiquitous word in the Hawaiian language or almost any language in the world for that matter. People use it to express an entire range of emotions and feelings from a simple "Hello" to a simple "Goodbye until I see you again soon" to "Goodbye and farewell forever".

Aloha stands not only for love among the O'hana, the extended family of people of the land, but for a love that includes the land itself. The people and the land are inseparable. The early Hawaiians lived in harmony and with respect for the land, the sea and all of nature. The land was their life and its preservation meant the preservation of their people.

Nor can one truly appreciate the Aloha word without a thorough spiritual sense of thankfulness and graciousness that radiates from the heart.

 


On the 'Spirit of Aloha'

"Aloha is the power of God (The Great Spirit) seeking to unite what is separated in the world - the power that unites heart with heart, soul with soul, life with life, culture with culture, race with race, nation with nation, (and man with woman). Aloha is the power that can reunite when a quarrel has brought separation. Aloha is the power that reunites individuals with themselves when they become separated from the image of God (the Great Spirit) within. Thus when a Person or a People live in the spirit of Aloha, they live in the spirit of God (the Great Spirit).

Aloha consists of this attitude of heart, above negativism, above legalism. It is the unconditional desire to promote the true good of other people in a friendly spirit, out of a sense of kinship. Aloha seeks to do good, with no conditions attached. We do not do good only to those who do good to us. One of the sweetest things about the love of God (the Great Spirit), about Aloha, is that it welcomes the stranger and seeks his and her good. A person, who has the spirit of Aloha loves even when the love is not returned. And such is the love of God (the Great Spirit).

Aloha does not exploit a people or keep them in ignorance and subservience. Rather, it shares the sorrows and joys of people. It seeks to promote the true good of others.

Today, one of the deepest needs of humankind is the need to feel a sense of kinship, one with another. Truly all humankind belongs together.

From the beginning, all humankind has been called into being, nourished, watched over by the love of God (the Great Spirit). The real Golden Rule is Aloha. This is the way of life we shall affirm.

Let us affirm forever what we really are - for Aloha is the spirit of God (the Great Spirit) at work in you and in me and in the world, uniting what is separated, overcoming darkness and death, bringing new light and life to all who sit in the darkness of fear, guiding the feet of humankind into the way of peace."


The above is a reprint of a sermon delivered by the Rev. Abraham Akaka at Kawaiahao Church, Honolulu Hawaii, on March 13, 1959 on the day Hawaii became a state of the Union and just three months before our Punahou '59 graduation. With the permission of Kahu Akaka, some of the words of the original sermon as noted in ( ) were changed to be even more appropriate to these times just before the new Millennium for a prayer service delivered by Jon Larson to a gathering of Native American Indian families upon a special occasion in August of 1997. On this occasion a gift of a sacred 'First Peoples Healing Pole' created by the Pacific Islanders Cultural Association was presented to the Muwekma Ohlone Indian families, the descendents of the first peoples who lived on the lands of the San Francisco Bay for thousands of years before these lands were rediscovered by Europeans. 'Mankind' has been changed to 'Humankind' to reflect the recognition of woman as equal partners with man in the responsibility of managing the affairs of the human race. And the words 'The Great Spirit' were added to honor the Native Americans present and their own historic spiritual understandings. Thank you Rev. Akaka for these beautiful words which are just as appropriate and meaningful today as when you first spoke these words in Kawaiahao Church on March 13, 1959.  


Here are some more Hawaiian words that you can use in everyday life.


 And here are some more every day words:


First names:

Kiana - Diane.

Kianalani - This is the name Diane Devereux's friends and neighbors have given to her. Could this be the same person who is sending us "Aunty Kianalani's Onolicious Recipes" for our Kau Kau Korner web section? Could be.

Pauahi - 'Puts out the fire'. Pauahi Judd believes her family named her for her calm and soothing personality, even as an infant, which tends to remain calm and collected, even in times of great stress and excitement.

Kapuamaeole - 'The flower that never withers' or 'everlasting flower'. "It's my Hawaiian name given to me when I was young." writes Audrey Dobson. Audrey uses it appropriately enough in her email name. What a wonderful way to think of oneself, to be reminded every day by one's name of how one should live one's life. Audrey's parents were very thoughtful.

Here are some more first names:

To find your first name in Hawaiian <== click here

For more Hawaiian word translations <== click here


Editor's comments: The above translations are derived from my own personal understanding and interpretation of the meaning of these words learned through common use during my many years growing up in the Islands where we used these words in every day context. My apologies to official keepers of the language and to my Hawaiian brothers and sisters if I have misrepresented the meaning, spelling or punctuation of any of these words. Please send me any corrections which I will be pleased to quickly make to the web site. My real intent is to stimulate others to want to spend time learning more about the Hawaiian language. 

Mahalo, me ke aloha pumehana, Jon Larson