Etymology

Lapita

L1A1P3I1T1A1

Today it means: An ancient material culture of Oceania who may have spoken Proto-Oceanic and were the ancestors of many modern peoples in the region. Full definition →

hvk xapeta'a
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The story

  1. hvk · derived fromxapeta'a“place where one digs a hole”
  2. English todayLapita

Coined 1952 by Edwin Gifford from Haveke xapeta'a (“place where one digs a hole”), believed to be in reference to archeological excavations in New Caledonia.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.