Worldsea Era Glossary

General

aikāne: intimate, often sexual relationships between members of the same sex

aloha: “love” used for “hello” and “goodbye”

heiau: a temple

kai e‘e: a tsunami

ki‘i (tiki): carved wooden masks representing gods

kilu: a game like quoits where a gourd is spun to hit a spoke, often earning one sexual favors

kōnane: a game like checkers

mahalo: “thank you”

mana: spiritual energy, but also life force

mele: a chant

mo‘olelo: tales, legends, and genealogies that contain within them a kind of mana

‘ohana: family, including extended family

pahu: wooden drum topped with sharkskin

tabu: sacred proscriptions

‘ūkēkē: stringed musical instrument

ali‘i: the chiefly class, including royalty

kahuna (plural kāhuna): a member of the educated class of priests, shamans, and teachers

Places

Uluka‘a: an island off the coast of Kahiki

Kahiki: an island (Tahiti)

Sawaiki: an archipelago north of Kahiki (the Hawaiian islands)

Savai‘i: an island (in Samoa)

Old Mu: a continent that sank and left behind various archipelagos

Mu: a mer kingdom centered on the sunken ruins of Old Mu

Hiyoya: a mer kingdom that broke away from Mu

Avaiki: the World of Water, native world of the mer

Pō: the Astral Realm (e.g. the Penumbra), literally “night”

Lua-o-Milu: the “pit of Milu,” an underworld of ghosts

Uekera: the Tree of Life

Bestiary

akua: gods, including mer and menehune

‘aumakua (plural ‘aumākua): ghost gods and ancestor spirits

he‘e: sentient octopuses

kupua: demigods, including shifters and mo‘o

lapu: angry ghosts

menehune: Earth akua

mer: Water akua (e.g. mermaids and mermen)

mo‘o: smaller dragons descended from the great taniwha of old, sometimes able to take human form

Nightmarchers: spirits of darkness or possibly ghosts that steal souls (The Wild Hunt)

taniwha: sea dragons

Clothing

malo: a man’s loincloth

kihei: a shoulder wrap

pa‘u: a woman’s skirt

tapa: cloth made from tree bark

Food

awa: a narcotic drink

imu: an underground oven

poi: paste made from taro root