Post #250059 by tikibars on Mon, Aug 21, 2006 1:32 PM

On 2006-07-19 00:52, Sneakytiki wrote:
Rattiki, "tiki" IS a word of Polynesian origins and is used among the Marquesans and New Zealanders among others, Hawaii is a more recently settled island and though Hawaiians speak a Polynesian tongue related to the others, they lost the "t" consonant, often replacing it with a "k" sound, thus Tapa in Fiji and Polynesia became "kapa" in Hawaii and Tiki became "ki'i", which is close to kiki, which is what you'd expect it to be with the k replaces t rule, whew! Hope that clears up some thing for somebody, even if that something is only that I am a nerd!

My understanding has always been:

The glottal stop (written as an apostrophe) in Hawaiian, is a 'k' sound in Tahitian / Maori / RapaNui.

The 'k' sound in Hawaiian, is a 't' sound Tahitian / Maori / RapaNui.

Tiki in Tahitian / Maori / RapaNui therefore becomes Ki'i in Hawaiian.

'Tahiti' in Tahitian / Maori / RapaNui becomes 'Kahiki' in Hawaiian!