huarākau vs. hua

[zeme]

Both are fruit, right? What's the difference?

I'm subscribed to kaitiaki@kupu.maori.nz. I received the following translations in my inbox yesterday and this morning:

huarākau: fruit

Ko te panana tāku tūmomo huarākau pai rawa.
Banana is my favourite type of fruit.
- this is an example of a definite sentence
--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---
hua: fruit, egg, product

He hua reka tēnei.
This is a delicious egg.
- this is an example of an indefinite sentence

[hashi]

'huarākau' appears to be the more collective word for fruits, while 'hua' is a specific fruit? But they use it to mean egg?? :S I dunno, sorry.

[ILuvEire]

'huarākau' appears to be the more collective word for fruits, while 'hua' is a specific fruit? But they use it to mean egg?? :S I dunno, sorry.

In Hawai‘ian at least, hua is used to mean fruit in the metaphorical sense as well as literal produce. So eggs are seen of as the fruit of a chicken, in the same way as babies are the fruit of women (hua can be used as a verb to mean "bear children" as well). Frequently in Hawai‘ian, one may say hua ‘ai to distinguish between hua in general and specifically fruits (‘ai meaning food plant, used a lot to distinguish between vegetables and fruit, and meats), and then you can say hua moa to refer to chicken eggs (moa meaning chicken, other kinds of eggs use the name of the animal they came from, so hua lopine = robin's eggs).

Hopefully this helps a little, Hawai‘ian is very similar to Māori

[zeme]

It makes sense. Thanks ILuvEire.

Also, huawhenua supposedly means vegetables, so clearly "hua" seems to be the root words for all fruits
in the metaphorical sense as you wrote.

[kahihi'o]

'huarākau' appears to be the more collective word for fruits, while 'hua' is a specific fruit? But they use it to mean egg?? :S I dunno, sorry.

In Hawai‘ian at least, hua is used to mean fruit in the metaphorical sense as well as literal produce. So eggs are seen of as the fruit of a chicken, in the same way as babies are the fruit of women (hua can be used as a verb to mean "bear children" as well). Frequently in Hawai‘ian, one may say hua ‘ai to distinguish between hua in general and specifically fruits (‘ai meaning food plant, used a lot to distinguish between vegetables and fruit, and meats), and then you can say hua moa to refer to chicken eggs (moa meaning chicken, other kinds of eggs use the name of the animal they came from, so hua lopine = robin's eggs).

Hopefully this helps a little, Hawai‘ian is very similar to Māori

That was an extremely accurate analysis. I'm very impressed.

[ILuvEire]

It makes sense. Thanks ILuvEire.

Also, huawhenua supposedly means vegetables, so clearly "hua" seems to be the root words for all fruits
in the metaphorical sense as you wrote.

I was kind of surprised that I didn't know the word for vegetable in Hawai‘ian off the top of my head, so I looked it up. Turns out, there really isn't an easy word for vegetable like Māori, just work arounds like mea ulu (growing thing) or my favorite lā‘au palupalu (flexible tree )

That was an extremely accurate analysis. I'm very impressed.

Mahalo

[Ariki]

Tēnā tātou,

Interesting analysis Iluveire.

The difference between hua rākau/huarākau and hua is that hua refers to any non-human off spring. Hua can mean fruit by itself however it is more specific to say huarākau as hua can also mean 'seed'.

An egg is usually referred to as a hua manu, literally, an off spring of a bird.