Kekoa (the warrior) Ever think about what kinds of animals we admire the most? Put it this way: When was the last time you heard of a high school calling its football team the jackals, hyenas, cows, sheep or tuna? They call them eagles, sharks, tigers, lions, or falcons. Otherwise known as predators. Peace, love,…

Kokua (assistance, cooperation, lending a hand) This is another of those Hawaiian words whose true meaning differs subtly from a single-word translation such as “help” or “crew.” Kokua carries an undertone of cooperation, of mutual assistance. A better translation would be “pitching in.” Which is why “kokua” is the only word to adequately describe 5,000…

Ali’i (Royalty, or rulers) Up until 1893 when Queen Liliʻuokalani was overthrown by a U.S.-backed coup d’état, the islands were ruled by various flavors of ali’i. There were nearly a dozen classes of royalty, including the kahuna, but the Big Lebowskis were the ali’i nui. Each island had its own, and they governed with divine…

Keiki (child, or an immature plant) There’s just too much self-evident irony in that definition to warrant a lot of exposition. But upon reflection, English is also full of anthropomorphisms (my excuse to use a six-syllable word): there are parent-child relationships in data bases; we grandfather in old laws; typesetters try to avoid orphans and…

Actually, ‘ohana means more than family. Think of it less as a noun than as an imperative. The Maōri cognate of ‘ohana is kōhanga, meaning “nest,” and from that origin flows a set of obligations that are baked deeply into Hawaiian culture. Families are tied together, and that binding includes caring for one another, cooperating…

‘Aina (the land) I was born in Brooklyn. My most intimate tie to the land was descending a staircase on Flatbush Avenue to ride the #2 IRT subway into Manhattan. I thought the only thing under the ground was steam pipes and phone cables. Hawai’i, on the other hand, wears its geomorphic origins on its…