Thinking about kupu

Te Wiki o te Reo Māori made me think about all the Māori words and phrases (kupu) that I use in the Ōtea comics. Even though the story is primarily written in English, I've tried to incorporate many kupu Māori: names for animals, stars, planets, places and supernatural beings, of course, but also important cultural concepts and whakatauki (proverbs). Here's an example: Ahurei (unique, important, distinguished).

My aim is to weave these Māori words and ideas into the story in a way that makes them meaningful and evocative for the reader.

I decided to go through the first Ōtea comic, Ōtea: Rock of Ages 1, and create a glossary of all the kupu Māori that I used - just to see how many there really were! So here is the Kuputaka (glossary) if you would like to browse it - link in the top menu too.