roaʻa

Tahitian

Etymology

From Proto-Polynesian *rauka (compare with Maori roaka (“abundant”) and Hawaiian loaʻa (“to get, to acquire”)) from Proto-Polynesian *lawa-ka– compare with ravaʻi ("suffice") and roa (“very, entirely”). Also doublet of noaʻa– see both Maori rehu and nehu for similar free variation of initial phonemes in related languages.

Verb

roaʻa

1. to acquire, obtain

   Synonyms: noaʻa, hoʻo

Further reading

• Yves Lemaître, Lexique du tahitien contemporain (Current Tahitian lexicon), 1995.
• “roaʻa” in Dictionnaire en ligne Tahitien/Français (Online Tahitian–French Dictionary), by the Tahitian Academy.