whiri

Maori

Etymology 1

From Proto-Polynesian *fili (compare with Hawaiian hili (“to braid, to plait, to turn aside”), Tahitian firi (“to plait”) and ‘ōfiri (“to wrap around”), Tongan fili and Samoan fili),[1][2] from Proto-Oceanic from Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *piliN (compare with Malay pilin).[3]

Verb

whiri

  1. to twist
  2. to weave
    Ko ngā turu o aua taonga he mea uhi ki te kākahu pūtiotio, he mea whiri.
    The chairs of that furniture were covered in rough woven cloth.
  3. to spin
  4. to curl or fold one's hands
Derived terms

References
  1. Tregear, Edward (1891) Maori-Polynesian Comparative Dictionary‎, Wellington, New Zealand: Lyon and Blair, pages 624-5
  2. Ross Clark and Simon J. Greenhill, editors (2011), “firi.1”, in POLLEX-Online: The Polynesian Lexicon Project Online
  3. Ross, Malcolm D., Pawley, Andrew, Osmond, Meredith (2008) The lexicon of Proto-Oceanic, volume 3: The Physical Environment, Canberra: Australian National University, →ISBN, pages 84, 286

Etymology 2

From Proto-Polynesian *fili (compare with Tongan fili, Samoan fili and filifili), from Proto-Oceanic (compare with Fijian vili (“to pick, to gather”)), from Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *piliq (compare with Malay pilih, Tagalog pili and pumili, Malagasy fidy), from Proto-Austronesian *piliq.[1][2]

Verb

whiri

  1. to choose, to select, to elect
  2. to pick
  3. to decide
Derived terms

References
  1. Tregear, Edward (1891) Maori-Polynesian Comparative Dictionary‎, Wellington, New Zealand: Lyon and Blair, pages 624-5
  2. Ross Clark and Simon J. Greenhill, editors (2011), “fili.1”, in POLLEX-Online: The Polynesian Lexicon Project Online

Further reading
  • “whiri” in John C. Moorfield, Te Aka: Maori–English, English–Maori Dictionary and Index, 3rd edition, Longman/Pearson Education New Zealand, 2011, →ISBN.
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