Maori

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Etymology

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Related to Tongan kanoʻi mata (eyeball) ultimately from Proto-Oceanic *kanoŋ qi mata corresponding to kano i mata (“seed on [one's] eye”)[1][2] – compare with Malay biji mata (“eyeball”, lit. “seed of the eye”) for similar semantic connections. Sense of face broadened from sense of sight itself from original sense of eye.

Noun

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kanohi

  1. face
  2. view, sight, vision
    Synonyms: kite, kitenga
  3. (archaic) eye, eyeball
    Synonym: mata

References

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  1. ^ Tregear, Edward (1891) Maori-Polynesian Comparative Dictionary[1], Wellington, New Zealand: Lyon and Blair, page 123
  2. ^ Ross, Malcolm D., Pawley, Andrew, Osmond, Meredith (2016) The lexicon of Proto-Oceanic, volumes 5: People, body and mind, Canberra: Australian National University, →ISBN, page 121

Further reading

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  • kanohi” in John C. Moorfield, Te Aka: Maori–English, English–Maori Dictionary and Index, 3rd edition, Longman/Pearson Education New Zealand, 2011, →ISBN.