Wiktionary

Land of the Long White Cloud

English

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Etymology

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Loose calque of Maori Aotearoa, from ao (“cloud, daytime, world”), tea (“white”), and roa (“long, tall”). Allegedly the first English-language mention was in the February, 1916, New Zealand School Journal (King, 2004). Probably a reference to the appearance of mountainous land when seen on the horizon from a canoe after an ocean voyage. (This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Proper noun

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the Land of the Long White Cloud

  1. (poetic) New Zealand.
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