Austral English / A dictionary of Australasian words, phrases and usages with those aboriginal-Australian and Maori words which have become incorporated in the language, and the commoner scientific words that have had their origin in Australasia - Edward Ellis Morris

1896. `Oamaru Mail,' June 13:

"Tannergrams is the somewhat apt designation which the new sixpenny telegrams have been christened in commercial vernacular."

<hw>Tappa</hw>, n. South-sea Island word. A native cloth made from the bark of the Paper-mulberry, Broussonetia papyrifera, Benth.

1886. `Art journal: Exhibition Supplement,' p. 24:

"The Tappa, or native cloth [of Fiji], made from the bark of a tree. . . Has been extensively used in the draping of the court."

1888. H. S. Cooper, `The Islands of the Pacific,' p. 9:

"Tappa, a native cloth of spotless white, made from the bark of the mulberry-tree.'

<hw>Tapu</hw>, adj. a Maori word, but common also to other Polynesian languages. The origin of the English word taboo. It properly means `prohibited.' There was a sacred tapu, and an unclean tapu. What was consecrated to the gods was forbidden to be touched or used by the people.

1820. `Grammar and Vocabulary of Language of New Zealand' (Church Missionary Society), p. 208:

"Tapu, a. sacred, inviolable."