Welaahilaninui

In Hawaiian mythology, Welaʻahilaninui (“Wela’ahilani the Great”) was a god or the first man, the forefather of Hawaiians.[1][2] He is mentioned as an ancestor of Hawaiian chiefs in the ancient Hawaiian chant Kumulipo.[3]

Welaahilaninui
FatherIwahinakiʻiakea
MotherLohanakiʻipapa
WifeOwe
IssueKahiko

Etymology

Wela’ahilaninui’s name can also be spelled as Wela-Ahi-Lani-Nui. Wela means “heat” or “lust”,[4] whilst ahi means “fire”.[5] Lani is a word for sky.[6] Nui means “the great”.

An alternative (or secondary semantic layer) to “fire” is “one”, or “first” as with kahi. This is possible through a phenomenon known in linguistics as t-glottalization or glottal replacement, which occurs when the letter “t” shifts to become the glottal stop, or okina. This is a pattern frequently seen in many languages, such as the Cockney form of the English language [7][8] While “kahi” does not have an onset “t”, it should be recognized that “kahi” and, from the Samoan language, “tasi” share a common origin as both mean “one”, or “first”.[9]

Thus Wela-Kahi-Lani-Nui may allude to “the great, original burning fire in the heavens”.

Family

Wela’ahilaninui’s wife was called Owe.[10][11][12][13] Their son was Kahiko,[14] who fathered Wākea the Sky father.[15][16]

Wela’ahilaninui’s parents were Iwahinakiʻiakea (son of Hikiuanahina by Waluanahina[17])[18] and his consort Lohanakiʻipapa (Umiwahinakiʻipapa),[19] whose parents are not known.[20]

Mythology

There are many Hawaiian traditions of how people obtained fire. According to one, fire was obtained in the time of Welaahilaninui.[21] This is related to his very name.

Abraham Fornander mentioned that Welaahilaninui and his wife were the first couple of humans. They were created by the great gods Lono, Kāne and Kū.

Notes
  1. J. Kēhaulani Kauanui (2008). Hawaiian blood: colonialism and the politics of sovereignty and indigeneity.
  2. The Journal of the Polynesian Society
  3. Kumulipo
  4. Wela, Hawaiian dictionary
  5. Mary Kawena Pukui, Samuel Hoyt Elbert. Hawaiian Dictionary: Hawaiian-English, English-Hawaiian.
  6. Wiktionary entry for "Lani": Lani
  7. Roach, Peter (2004), "British English: Received Pronunciation", Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 34 (2): 240, doi:10.1017/S0025100304001768
  8. Gimson, Alfred C. (1970), An Introduction to the pronunciation of English, London: Edward Arnold
  9. Tregear, Edward. Maori-Polynesian Comparative Dictionary. Lyon & Blair, 1891. (p. 443)
  10. Samuel Kamakau, Ruling Chiefs of Hawaii, Revised Edition, (Honolulu: Kamehameha Schools Press, 1992).
  11. Hawaiian Genealogies: Extracted from Hawaiian Language Newspapers, Volume 2 by Edith Kawelohea McKinzie
  12. “In the tradition of Welaahilaninui, he was of the true original ancestors of Hawaii's chiefly generations...”
  13. Pacific Studies, Svesci 1-2. Brigham Young University, Hawaii Campus, 1977.
  14. Hawaiian Mythology by Martha Warren Beckwith
  15. Chant Kumulipo
  16. Abraham Fornander, An Account of the Polynesian Race: Its Origin and Migrations, Rutland, VT: Charles E. Tuttle Company, 1969
  17. Kumulipo
  18. Family of Iwahinakiiakea and Wela’ahilaninui
  19. Samuel M. Kamakau, Ruling Chiefs of Hawaii, Revised Edition, (Honolulu: Kamehameha Schools Press, 1992)
  20. Wala-Ahi-Lani-Nui
  21. Bernice P. Bishop Museum Special Publication, volume 61
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