Respecting te reo Māori in botanical nomenclature: the use of long vowels replacing tohutō (macrons) and the case of kūmarahou

Abstract

ABSTRACT Tohutō (macrons) or long vowels when used in te reo Māori assist with the correct pronunciation and spelling of words and in providing their meaning. When te reo is used in the formation of botanical names, the International Code of Nomenclature rules state that diacritical signs are to be transcribed into Latin letters; therefore, the long vowel ‘ā’ would become the double vowel ‘aa’. Critique of 180 te reo botanical epithets used in the naming of the Aotearoa / New Zealand flora shows that 30 epithets are based on words with long vowels and in one case only has a double vowel replaced the tohutō. In 29 cases the tohutō has been replaced by a single vowel, with the potential to make the te reo epithet meaningless or with a different meaning from that intended. To ensure te reo words are treated appropriately in botanical nomenclature, it is recommended that tohutō are replaced with long vowels prior to being Latinised as nomenclatural epithets. A case study examines a proposal submitted to the International Botanical Congress to conserve ‘Pomaderris kumarahou’, based on the te reo vernacular name kūmarahou, as the correct name for P. kumeraho A.Cunn., whose possible meaning is considered vulgar. Tohutō are an important component of these names. The proposed name to be conserved ‘P. kumarahou’ has not used a long vowel to replace the tohutō, and the transcription of kūmarahou that reflects the Māori name would be ‘kuumarahou’. The epithet P. kumeraho combines kūmera with ho, and if correctly transcribed would be kuumeraho. The suggested vulgar word kumeraho combines kume and raho, lacks tohutō, and following recommendations of the Māori Language Commission, can be spelt as kume raho. It is concluded the evidence presented in support of conserving the species epithet ‘P. kumarahou’ is insufficient.