Etymograph

English

huia

Huia comes from Māori huia, and goes back to Proto-Oceanic *pusiRa ‘bird species, starling’.

  1. Proto-Oceanicprehistoric (reconstructed)*pusiRa‘bird species, starling’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Polynesianprehistoric (reconstructed)*fuiareconstructed
  3. Māorimodernhuia
  4. Englishearliest quotation 2003same form

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Lineage

  1. Proto-Oceanicprehistoric (reconstructed)*pusiRa‘bird species, starling’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Polynesianprehistoric (reconstructed)*fuiareconstructed
  3. Māorimodernhuia
  4. Englishearliest quotation 2003same form

Earliest quotation: 2003, Michael King, The Penguin History of Aotearoa New Zealand: “Other birds, such as the emblematically distinctive huia and…”

Every English word from Proto-Oceanic *pusiRa

Today it means

noun A wattlebird (†Heteralocha acutirostris), endemic to New Zealand's North Island but extinct since the early twentieth century.

Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.

Etymograph / Proto-Oceanic *pusiRa / huia

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