Tagaloa

T1A1G2A1L1O1A1

proper noun

The chief deity of Samoan mythology; the creator of the universe and progenitor and chief of all other gods; also used in combination with epithets for certain deities brought into being by said creator.

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Meanings

proper noun
  1. Samoan mythologyThe chief deity of Samoan mythology; the creator of the universe and progenitor and chief of all other gods; also used in combination with epithets for certain deities brought into being by said creator.

    After he had created the heavens and the earth, Tagaloa sat still for a time. Then he began his work anew. He created the other gods from himself. Tagaloa the creator said to Tagaloa-le-fuli, Stable Tagaloa, "Be chief in the heavens." And Stable Tagaloa was chief in the heavens.

    2014, Howard J. Sherman, Mythology for Storytellers: Themes and Tales from Around the World, Taylor & Francis (Routledge), page 254
    2 more examples

    1887, Thomas Powell, A Samoan Tradition of Creation and the Deluge, Francis W. H. Petrie (editor), Journal of the Transactions of the Victoria Institute, Volume 20, Victoria Institute, page 150, Tagaloa the Creator then sat down, and produced Tagaloa the Unchangeable, and Tagaloa the Visitor of the Peoples, and Tagaloa the Prohibitor of the Peoples, and Tagaloa the Messenger,§ and Tuli and Logonoa.

    1987 [1892], Thomas Powell (collector and translator), [Translation of oral history, originally published 1892], quoted in 1987, Malama Meleisea, Penelope Schoeffel Meleisea (editors), Lagaga: A Short History of Western Samoa, University of the South Pacific, page 6, […] Tagaloa looked down to Tagaloa the messenger, and he made the Tongan group spring up; then that land sprung up. Then he turns his face to this Manua; and looks up to the heavens, for he is unable to move about, then Tagaloa, the creator and Tagaloa, the immovable looked down and caused Savaiʻi to spring up, then that land grew up.

Cite this entry
APA

Tagaloa. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Tagaloa

MLA

“Tagaloa.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Tagaloa. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “Tagaloa,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Tagaloa.

Source: Tagaloa on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.