(c.) Sometimes it is used instead of the pronoun some; e. g.
- Kei tahaetia e te tangata, lest it should be stolen by some person; na te tangata noa atu, by some person or other.
(d.) It is employed for many other purposes which the English the does not recognize. We shall only mention the following;
- Te tini o te kaipuke, How many ships there are!
Note.—It has been asserted that te is sometimes used in the plural number, as in the preceding example, "te kaipuke," and in the following; te tini o te tangata, many men; ka reka te pititi, peaches are sweet.
We are more inclined to think that we have, in these examples, the operation of a figure of frequent occurrence in Maori, viz., synecdoche, and that one of a class is made to represent a whole class.
Expressions of this kind are common in English, without involving the plural number of the article; e. g., the fruit of the tree, a great many, a few men, &c. Bishop Lowth's remarks on these instances are quite to the point.
"The reason of it, he says, is manifest from the effect which the article has in these phrases; it means a small or great number, collectively taken, and therefore gives the idea of a whole, that is, of unity. Thus likewise, a hundred, a thousand is one whole number, an aggregate of many collectively taken; and therefore still retains the article a, though joined as an adjective to a plural substantive; as, a hundred years."
(e.) Lastly, te is sometimes employed before proper names; e. g.
- Te Puriri, Te Uira