kanaka
English edit
Alternative forms edit
Etymology edit
1840. From Hawaiian kanaka (“person”), ultimately from Proto-Polynesian *taŋata.
Noun edit
kanaka (plural kanakas or kanaka)
- A person of Hawaiian descent.
- 2004 October 29, Peter Wong, “Interracial-marriage ban used in Measure 36 comparisons”, in Statesman Journal, volume 152, number 214, Salem, OR, page 2A:
- It was considered one of the nation’s strictest bans because of the reference to Kanakas – native Hawaiians – and because Nevada was the only other state to add Chinese.
- 2010, Mike Farris, Kanaka Blues, Savant Books and Publications, page 21:
- "Who was the call from?"
"I don't know. Sound like a kanaka though.” When Erin frowned, he added, “A Hawaiian, like me.”
- (historical) A South Pacific Islander, especially a labourer in Australia or Canada.
- 1912, Arthur Berriedale Keith, Responsible Government in the Dominions, Volume II[1], page 1098:
- There remains one case to be considered, that of the deportation of the Kanakas who were introduced into Queensland for the purpose of work on the sugar plantations. […] It was, however, felt in the south that a white Australia was essential, and the Commonwealth passed in 1901 an Act (No. 16) which arranged for the deportation of all Kanakas within a few years.
- 1921, W. Somerset Maugham, “Red”, in The Trembling of a Leaf: Little Stories of the South Sea Islands, The Floating Press, published 2011, page 47:
- The Kanaka at the wheel gave him a glance, but did not speak.
- 1933, Cambridge History of the British Empire, Part I, Volume VII, Cambridge University Press, Reissued 1988, Ernest Scott (editor), Australia, Volume 1, Cambridge University Press, page 313,
- So long as the Kanakas remained, white labour in Queensland went into the mills, from which the Kanakas were excluded, rather than into the cane brakes. Slowly, however, the change proceeded. […] The gentleman planter, owning broad estates worked by Kanaka gangs, crushing and refining his own sugar after a fashion in the plantation mill, was by that time obsolescent. Though the small farmers into whose hands the plantations were divided might employ a Kanaka or two, no Kanaka might own land.
Descendants edit
Translations edit
See also edit
Hawaiian edit
Etymology edit
From Proto-Polynesian *taŋata, cognate with Maori tangata
Pronunciation edit
Noun edit
kanaka (irregular plural kānaka)
Descendants edit
References edit
- Pukui, Mary Kawena, Elbert, Samuel H. (1986) “kanaka”, in Hawaiian Dictionary, revised & enlarged edition, Honolulu, HI: University of Hawai'i Press, →ISBN, page 127
Javanese edit
Alternative forms edit
Noun edit
kanaka (krama ngoko kuku, krama inggil kanaka)
- (anatomy) Krama inggil of kuku.
References edit
- The Linguistic Center of Yogyakarta (2015) “kanaka”, in Kamus Basa Jawa (Bausastra Jawa) [Javanese Language Dictionary (Javanese Dictionary)] (in Javanese), Yogyakarta: Kanisius, →ISBN
Tok Pisin edit
Etymology edit
Probably from German Kanake (see other entries on this page for more).
Noun edit
kanaka