|
The waitoreke (or waitoreki, waitorete) is an otter/beaver-like cryptid said to live in New Zealand. It is usually described as a small otter-like animal that lives in the South Island of New Zealand. There are many theories on the waitoreke's true identity, such as it being an otter, beaver or pinniped. ==Etymology== The origin of the name "waitoreke" is not well documented; it may have been an invention. It does not occur in Tregear's fairly comprehensive Māori dictionary of 1891, and was said to be "ungrammatical" by leading Māori anthropologist Te Rangi Hīroa. Despite this, etymologies have been put forward by researchers: * "Wai" is from the Māori word water. This is generally agreed upon; ''wai'' or variations thereof are the universal term for "water" in Polynesian languages (Tregear 1891). * One of the theory is that "to reke" translates to "the (bone) spurs", i.e. "waitoreke" = "water (animal with) the spurs". ''Reke'' is a specifically Māori term denoting a spear thrust or hair that has been tied into a protruding knot (Tregear 1891). * ''Toreki'' is South Island Ngāi Tahu dialect (see also Mantell account below) of "torengi", and sometimes taken to mean "to disappear". Thus "waitoreke" = "disappears (into) water". According to Tregear (1891), ''torengi'' might conceivably used signifying "to disappear", but the disappearing act has to be due to being left behind by someone. The meaning may have changed with the dialect; the alternate translation "water (animal) that was left behind by someone" (i.e., introduced by humans) is as plausible (or implausible). * ''Wai'' means "water", the following syllable ''to'' links the word to the spiritual world and the rest of the word means "to disappear". Therefore the translation might be "a disappearing water spectre" (Becker, 1985; cited in Mareš, 1997) - for the Māori it was the most common animals which played significant roles in their lives, unlike Europe, where the criteria for turning an animal into a mythological creature was its rareness. * A final one is that "toreke" may be a distortion by the Māori of a foreign (Asian/Arab) name for the animal. Since European settlement (late 18th century onwards) the animal has also been referred to as the "New Zealand otter", "Māori otter", "New Zealand beaver", "New Zealand muskrat" and "New Zealand platypus" based on various accounts and theories. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Waitoreke」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|