Several words of New Zealand origin, including kupu Māori, have been added to the Oxford English Dictionary (OED) in its September 2024 update, aligning with te wiki o te Reo Māori.
Tikanga, tikanga Māori, mahi and kapa haka have all been added to the dictionary, though it’s far from the first time kupu Māori have been adopted by the OED.
In Oxford’s March 2023 update, the majority of words added with New Zealand origin were kupu Māori.
They included whenua, e hoa, koha and pōwhiri in a change reflecting “the substantial number of Māori words that have become part of the vocabulary of both Māori and Pākehā (non-Māori) speakers of English,” the Oxford University Press wrote at the time.
The addition of kupu Māori words to the Oxford English Dictionary has not always been met warmly, with Lawyer Lynell Tuffery Huria (Ngāti Ruanui, Ngāruahine) telling The Hui’s Julian Wilcox the move was inappropriate.
“Our kupu are turning up in the Oxford Dictionary - part of the English vernacular. It’s not appropriate for our kupu to be in the Oxford Dictionary at all. Because we are just being more and more assimilated and that’s not what we want,” Huria told Wilcox in March last year.
The team behind the Oxford English Dictionary maintains it is simply “borrowing” from Māori, a common practice for the dictionary, which also incorporates words from other languages.
The latest tri-monthly update includes common bilingual phrases used in Aotearoa, such as:
- Aotearoan - “A native or inhabitant of Aotearoa (New Zealand).”
- Waka jump - “intransitive. Of a member of Parliament: to move from one political party to another during a parliamentary term.”
- Waka jumper - “A member of Parliament who moves from one political party to another during a parliamentary term.”
- Waka jumping - “The action or practice of a member of Parliament moving from one political party to another during a parliamentary term.”
Several reo Pākehā phrases of New Zealand origin were also added this month.
- Chilly Bin
- Anniversary day - “New Zealand. Usually with capital initials. The anniversary of the foundation of one of the former provinces. Also: a public holiday commemorating…”
- On the boozeroo - “New Zealand. on the boozeroo: out drinking; engaged in a bout of heavy drinking. Obsolete.”
- Boozeroo - this kupu has three different meanings in the dictionary.
- “New Zealand. Heavy drinking; getting drunk. Now rare.”
- “Originally New Zealand. A heavy drinker; an alcoholic. Cf. boozer, n. 1. Now rare.”
- “A drinking establishment; a pub. Cf. boozer, n. 2.”
- Windy City - “New Zealand. With the. A nickname for: Wellington, the capital of New Zealand.”
The Oxford English Dictionary is in the midst of one of the biggest revision projects in its 167-year history as it targets a 2037 release date for its revised third edition - likely to be the first edition of the OED which will not be printed but released exclusively online.
