Etymology

Matariki

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Today it means: The season, in late May or early June, when the Pleiades star cluster first rises, treated as the beginning of the new year by the Maori. Full definition →

Māori Matariki ← Proto-Eastern Polynesian *mataliki
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The story

  1. Proto-Eastern Polynesian · derived from*mataliki
  2. Māori · borrowed fromMatariki
  3. English todayMatariki

Borrowed from Māori Matariki, from Proto-Eastern Polynesian Proto-Eastern Polynesian *mataliki, from Proto-Eastern Oceanic Proto-Eastern Polynesian *mataliki. One Maori folk etymology claims it represents ngā + mata + o + te + ariki + o + Tāwhirimātea, meaning "the eyes of the [wind] god Tāwhirimātea". In Māori legend, the Pleiades star cluster which it is named after was from Tāwhirimātea's plucked eyes. Cognate with Hawaiian makahiki.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.