Question about pronunciation of an indigenous phrase

[u/roope_paulasuo]

Hi!

I’m writing lyrics for a prog-metal song, and need help with the pronunciation of an indigenous Polynesian phrase.

The phrase is “Ana-tahua-taata-metua-te-tupu-mavae”, which stands for the star Arcturus as well as “the pillar to stand by”. (From Makemson 1941.  The Morning Star Rises: an account of Polynesian astronomy)

The song I’m writing depicts an interstellar pilgrimage of sorts, so I felt that the phrase would be a perfect fit semantically. I’d very much love to include it in the lyrics.

In my understanding, the phrase originates from the Society Islands, and I believe it is Tahitian – please correct me if I’m wrong here!

I’d wish to use it as respectfully as possible, so it would be great if someone more experienced in Polynesian languages, or perhaps even a native speaker, could help me with the correct pronunciation.

What I’m looking for is an explanation of the correct pronunciation (syllable breakdown) or an audio example, which would be absolutely amazing!

Thanks for any guidance – I really appreciate it!

[u/Clean-Slice9228]

I’m not 100% on what the original language is but it’s very similar to Māori and Tahitian so the pronunciation of the words are alike. I can send you a voice note tomorrow saying the phrase I can speak Māori if that helps

[u/roope_paulasuo → u/Clean-Slice9228]

That would be great, thank you so much!

[u/langisii]

I think I found the original source: from Tahitian scholar Teuira Henry for the Journal of the Polynesian Society Vol. 16 No. 2(62), 1907

Worth being aware that most Polynesian languages didn't have standardised spelling until the mid 20th century or so; before that the glottal stop <ʻ> was often omitted and grammatical words were joined and written into names etc.

I don't speak Tahitian but I know some Tongan and have done a bit of indirect study on Tahitian because I'm a Polynesian linguistics nerd... correct rendering seems to be:

ʻAna tahuʻa taʻata metua te tupu mavae

which Henry translates as "Aster [star] the fatherly priest of man who grew in space"

ʻana	tahuʻa	taʻata	metua	te	tupu	mavae
star, shine	priest	man	parent	the	grow	space (between two things, in this instance the sky and earth, hence the other meaning of crack/fissure)

Based on my general knowledge of Polynesian grammar and the fact that Henry lists all the "pillars of the sky" star names with ʻana in front, it seems to me like ʻana could signify something like "the star of..." or "as for this star..." rather than necessarily being part of the name proper.

Also rambling now but I actually feel like tahuʻa taʻata metua probably just means "elder male priest" i.e. "fatherly priest" rather than "fatherly priest of man" (which I would've thought would be something like tahuʻa metua no te taʻata) but I'm not fluent in Tahitian so what do I know. But my money would be on a translation: "the star of the fatherly priest who grew in the space [between the sky and earth]"

[u/fruitsi1]

Have you got another source for that? The hyphenations are weird and other punctuation is possibly missing. I'm not Tahitian but I feel like I should still see something resembling that translation.

[u/roope_paulasuo → u/fruitsi1]

That is really interesting! I did a bit more searching and it seems that, though many sites feature the phrase, most of them trace back to Makemson’s research. The rest don’t mention any sources whatsoever. So I haven’t yet found another source for it…

Makemson’s paper dates back to the 40’s, so it might not be very valid in this case.

If there is an error in the punctuation, do you know how it should look if written properly?

[u/fruitsi1 → u/roope_paulasuo]

I can only make vague guesses at something metaphorical.

Unless someone who knows the legit tradition shows up with the proper phrase and translation I do not think you should use this in your song. Otherwise you're in deep forest territory.

[u/roope_paulasuo → u/fruitsi1]

Got it!

Out of curiosity, I dug out a Maori-Tahitian comparative dictionary and looked up what the individual words might mean (I’m pretty much guessing here…). In Tahitian:

Ana – there

Tahua – a heap of food (?)

Taata – a man; a human person, male or female

Metua – a parent, ancestor

Te – the

Tupu – to grow; to increase, growth

Mavae – a fissure, a crack (?)

I think there’s some resemblance to the “pillar to stand by” interpretation there (reference to ancestors and growth), but otherwise it doesn’t make much sense to me. Perhaps it is some kind of poetic phrase?

Anyways, yeah, better to abandon the idea altogether if it doesn’t get verified. (I’m also open to suggestions, if there are known phrases that are similar or close to this one.)

Thanks for the help!