kotaʼe

Rapa

Noun

kōtaʼe

1. (fresh) water

Further reading

• "Kenji" Lawrence Rutter, Going French, Going Tahitian: The Tahitianization of French Polynesia
• The Journal of the Polynesian Society (v. 63-64, 1954), page 320: "In a few instances it is clear that the Polynesian term was known in ancient days:— Vai, an ancient Polynesian name for "water"[,] occurred in place names in Rapa, and in uvai, an aqueduct. The present term is kota'e, evidently derived from Polynesian tahe to flow. The local account is that kota'e replaced kare (kare — wave), which had previously supplanted koringi-ringi (ringi = to pour) the oldest, as claimed."