Tēnā koutou - hello everyone.

Last week we looked at the history and meaning behind the naming of Te Wairere Lake Dunstan.  Learning te reo is not just about grammar and vocabulary, it’s also about connecting with the place in which we live.

Ōmakau is another Māori place name with meaning and history.

The name of this town tends to be mis-pronounced in our everyday speech. 

The o is commonly mis-pronounced as ‘oh’ like the ‘o’ in OK. The ending ‘au’ is also commonly mis-pronounced as ‘ow’ like in cow.

You may have noticed that every Māori word ends in a vowel. When trying to pronounce longer words, it is easy to use this feature and break the word up into its syllables ending in a vowel. So, to work out the correct pronunciation of Ōmakau, we can look at it as three syllables: Ō + ma + kau.

Ō is correctly pronounced like the ‘aw’ in the word ‘hawk’. The macron above the letter indicates it is a long vowel.

The ‘a’ in ma is pronounced like the ‘a’ in the word ‘ago’. 

The two vowels ‘a’ and ‘u’ are pronounced together very quickly, so they become one sound. ‘a’ as in ago + ‘u’ as in flute together becomes a closed ‘o’ sound, as in the word rose.

So, the correct pronunciation of Ōmakau becomes ‘aw-ma-ko’.

Ōmakau is widely believed to have been named after the Kāti Mamoe chief Makau.

Kāti Māmoe (also spelled Ngāti Māmoe) is a historic Māori iwi originally from the North Island.  In the 16th century, they moved to the South Island, which at the time was already occupied by the Waitaha.

A century later, the Kāti Māmoe had been absorbed into the Kāi Tahu people through a mix of marriage and conquest. Consequently, many Kāi Tahu have Kāti Māmoe links in their whakapapa, especially in the far south of the South Island.  Many southern Māori still think of themselves as Kai Tahu-Kāti Mamoe, a melding of the two tribal groups.

The literal meaning of Ōmakau is usually quoted as ō place of, has + makau lover, husband or wife.

However, the Otago Witness published a clarification of Māori nomenclature in 1909, researched and written by W H S Roberts.  Here is an excerpt from the article:

The railway authorities in September 1904 notified that the railway station near Ophir, or Black’s (it was called Black’s from the name of the first owner of the sheep-run there), on the Otago Central, was changed to Omakau.

The Otago Witness (28/9/04) remarked: “The exact shade of meaning to be attached to the name is not notified. ‘Oma’ has a meaning ‘to run swiftly’, and ‘kau’, according to Mr Tregear, has two meanings – ‘alone’ and ‘idle’.”

The witness has hardly quoted Tregear correctly. He translates ‘Oma’ ‘idle’ and ‘to run’ but not swiftly. ‘Kau’ is ‘alone’ or ‘to swim’, but not ‘idle’, though it has 13 meanings.

It may be O-makau, ‘the place of a spouse’, or ‘of lowest ebb tide’, or ‘Mr Makau’s residence’; or O-ma-kau, ‘the place to wade across a stream’.

I wish the Railway Department would give us the correct interpretation.

Whatever the true story behind its name, the correct pronunciation of Ōmakau as a Māori place name remains the same.

Kia pai te rā. Have a great day.

Check out te wiki o te reo Māori here 

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