ngaro

Maori

Etymology 1

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Verb

ngaro

1. (stative) to be hidden, out of sight, covered, disappeared, absent

   Ko te wāhi e tārewa ana ko ngā roto kei waenganui i ngā whenua, ko ngā parumoana, arā ko ngā whenua e pā ana ki ngā moana, e ngaromia ana e te tai pari. Ki te Māori he whenua ēnei nōna.

   The part still unresolved relates to lakes within the land and the seabed, that is the land associated with the sea which is covered by the high tide. To the Māori this land belongs to them.

2. to destroy

   Ko ngā kai katoa i ngakia mō tēnei tau ngaromia katoatia e te wai, tanumia iho ki raro e te onepū i te mimititanga o ngā wai.

   All the food that had been cultivated for this year was completely destroyed, buried in the sand when the water subsided.

Stative

ngaro

1. be missing, lost, consumed, gone, extinct

   • Mahara noa a Tiopira kua mate ina hoki te roa e ngaro ana ki raro, mahue atu i a ia tana rāti.

     Tiopira thought that it was dead due to the length of time it had been missing below, so he put down his harpoon.

Modifier

ngaro

1. secretly, hidden, undetected, unnoticed

   • Rongo kau anō te tupua rā i te haunga āhua tangata, heoi ka puta kei waho o tōna rua, haere ngaro atu te ope rā, haere ngaro mai ana te tupua nei; kite noa ake, ehara, kua tata.

     That demon smelt the odour of human form it emerged outside its lair, so that party and this demon were moving along secretly. When they finally saw each other, low and behold, they were close.

Etymology 2

Metathesis of rango from Proto-Polynesian *laŋo (“houseflies, bees, wasps” – compare with Samoan lago) from Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *laŋaw (compare with Malay langau “horsefly”).

Noun

ngaro

1. blowfly, in connection with mākutu the fly represented the life or spirit of the person involved.

   Ko te ōkiha kua ngaua e taua ngaro, he mea anō ka hīrori, pērā me te kau kua kai i te tutu nei i tēnei motu i a tātou nei, ā ka pohe ngā kanohi, ka mate.

   The steer that has been bitten by this insect, will later stagger around, like a cow which has eaten tutu in this country which goes blind and dies.

   Synonym: rango

   1. houseflies of various species, any plump winged insect

Derived terms

• ngaro huruhuru

Etymology 3

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Noun

ngaro

1. roller (for moving a canoe, etc)

Further reading

• Williams, Herbert William (1917) “ngaro”, in A Dictionary of the Maori Language, page 268
• “ngaro” in John C. Moorfield, Te Aka: Maori–English, English–Maori Dictionary and Index, 3rd edition, Longman/Pearson Education New Zealand, 2011, →ISBN.