Legends of Ma-ui—a demi god of Polynesia, and of his mother Hina

Hale-a-ka-la Crater, the House of the Sun.

HONOLULU: THE HAWAIIAN GAZETTE CO., LTD. 1910




There are three simple rules which practically control Hawaiian pronunciation: (1) Give each vowel the German sound. (2) Pronounce each vowel. (3) Never allow a consonant to close a syllable.
Interchangeable consonants are many. The following are the most common: h=s; l=r; k=t; n=ng; v=w.
Maui is a demi god whose name should probably be pronounced Ma-u-i, i. e. , Ma-oo-e. The meaning of the word is by no means clear. It may mean to live, to subsist. It may refer to beauty and strength, or it may have the idea of the left hand or turning aside. The word is recognized as belonging to remote Polynesian antiquity.
MacDonald, a writer of the New Hebrides Islands, gives the derivation of the name Maui primarily from the Arabic word Mohyi, which means causing to live or life, applied sometimes to the gods and sometimes to chiefs as preservers and sustainers of their followers.