Introduction

Dr. Melenaite Taumoefolau makes a compelling and intriguing argument: that Nuclear Polynesian *sawaiki: "traditional/mythological homeland"—whence Hawaii—may be a cognate of *sau ʔariki borrowed from the Tongic branch into Nuclear Polynesian. (Note that *sawaiki can only be reconstructed to NP, it is not present in Tongic or other related groups.)

Tongic reflexes of *ʔariki all show loss of the *r: Niuēan iki , Tongan ʻeiki, Tongan houʻeiki. And Nuclear Polynesian had lost the Proto-Polynesian *ʔ; so a borrowing from Tongic to Nuclear Polynesian would strip both *ʔ and *r from *sau ʔariki, leaving *sau aiki. Once interpreted as monomorphemic in the borrowing language, the stress would shift, changing *u to *w, completing the transformation into reconstructed NP *sawaiki!

This borrowing would presumably be linked with the second wave of colonization from western Tonga to the already inhabited Marquesas Islands (necessarily also passing through the Society Islands between) that happened a little before the expansion of the Marquesan and Tahitic language subfamilies to the remote islands.

If this theory is correct, then Hawaiʻian has doublets aualiʻi (normal development) vs Hawaiʻi (borrowing from Tongic to NP); and likewise Tongan has doublets houʻeiki (normal development) vs Hauaiʻi (re-borrowing from Hawaiʻian).

I have not been able to find any information about the Fijian (Oceanic, non-Polynesian) place name Sawaieke, and how or whether it fits in to this.

Full Text

• Oceanic *sau

  • Fijian sau high chief
  • Polynesian *sau

    • Nuclear Polynesian *sau

      • Eastern Polynesian *hau

        • Marquesic

          • Marquesan hau government
        • Tahitic

          • Tahitian hau peace, government, nation, homeland
    • Tongic *hau

      • Tongan hau ruler, to rule, to conquer

        • Tongan tukuhau tribute, taxes lit. "let go to the ruler"
    • Polynesian *faka-sau to be like a ruler with causative/simulative *faka-

      • Tongic

        • Tongan fakahau tyrannical, rigorous, troublesome
      • Nuclear Polynesian *faka-sau

        • Eastern Polynesian *faka-hau

          • Tahitic

            • Māori whakahau to rule, to command
    • Polynesian *sau-malu ~shelter of authority? with *malu: "shade, shelter", but uncertain that it is the same *sau

      • Nuclear Polynesian *sau-malu

        • Eastern Polynesian *hau-malu

          • Rapa Nui haumarū peace
          • Marquesic

            • Hawaiʻian haumalu quiet
          • Tahitic *hau-maru

            • Māori haumaru safety, shelter

              • Māori mōhiti haumaru safety googles
    • Polynesian *sau-ʔariki council of chiefs? high chief? aristocratic government?

      • Nuclear Polynesian *sau-aliki

        • Samoic

          • Samoan saualiʻi spirits
          • Tokelauan haualiki demigod
        • Eastern Polynesian *hau-aliki

          • Marquesic

            • Hawaiʻian aualiʻi
          • Tahitic *hau-ariki

            • Tahitian hau ari'i government, kingdom, kingship
      • Outlier Polynesian

        • Tikopia sau ariki to select a chief
      • Tongic *sau-ʔiki

        • Tongan houʻeiki chiefs irregular plural of ʻeiki
        • Nuclear Polynesian *sawaiki traditional/mythological homeland

          • Samoic

            • Samoan Savai'i island in western Samoa (also called Salafai)
          • Eastern Polynesian

            • Marquesic

              • Hawaiʻian Hawaiʻi the Hawaiian Islands, the Island of Hawaii, Hawaiian

                • English Hawaii

                  • Cantonese 夏威夷 haa⁶ wai¹ ji⁴

                    • Mandarin 夏威夷 Xiàwēiyí
                  • Japanese ハワイ Hawai
                  • Spanish Hawái

                    • Tagalog Haway
                • Tongan Hauaiʻi
              • Marquesan Havaiʻi underworld, mythical homeland of the first humans in the west
            • Tahitic

              • Māori Hawaiki ancient homeland, where the voyage to Aotearoa left from and where souls return after death
              • Tahitian Havaiʻi
• Malayo-Polynesian *haɟi king, chief

  • Kawi haji

    • Javanese ꦲꦗꦶ aji king
    • Tagalog hari king
  • Malayic

    • Malay aji king
  • Philippine

    • Ilokano ári king
  • Oceanic *ari

    • Polynesian *ʔariki foremost, noble, chief ^[1]

      • Nuclear Polynesian *aliki

        • Samoic

          • Samoan aliʻi
        • Eastern Polynesian *aliki

          • Marquesic

            • Hawaiʻian aliʻi noble, ruler, monarch, royal, to rule, to govern

              • Hawaiʻian naʻau aliʻi beneficent, forgiving, loving, kind lit. "noble mind/heart/temper"
            • Marquesan aʻiki chief, steward, rich man
          • Tahitic *ariki

            • Māori ariki high chief, lord, god, noble, first born (in a noble family)

              • Māori whānau ariki noble family, celestial bodies of the solar system
              • Māori whare ariki royal house, royal flush (poker)
              • Māori Ngā mata o te ariki o Tāwhirimātea the Pleiades "the Eyes of the God Tāwhirimātea"/"the Eyes of the Lord of Tāwhirimātea"

                • Māori Matariki the Pleiades contraction
            • Tahitian ariʻi high chief, king
      • Tongic *ʔaiki

        • Niuēan iki
        • Tongan ʻeiki noble
      • Outlier Polynesian

        • Tikopia ariki chief, chiefly, to become chief
      • Polynesian *sau-ʔariki council of chiefs? high chief? aristocratic government?

        • Nuclear Polynesian *sau-aliki

          • Samoic

            • Samoan saualiʻi spirits
            • Tokelauan haualiki demigod
          • Eastern Polynesian *hau-aliki

            • Marquesic

              • Hawaiʻian aualiʻi
            • Tahitic *hau-ariki

              • Tahitian hau ari'i government, kingdom, kingship
        • Outlier Polynesian

          • Tikopia sau ariki to select a chief
        • Tongic *sau-ʔiki

          • Tongan houʻeiki chiefs irregular plural of ʻeiki
          • Nuclear Polynesian *sawaiki traditional/mythological homeland

            • Samoic

              • Samoan Savai'i island in western Samoa (also called Salafai)
            • Eastern Polynesian

              • Marquesic

                • Hawaiʻian Hawaiʻi the Hawaiian Islands, the Island of Hawaii, Hawaiian

                  • English Hawaii

                    • Cantonese 夏威夷 haa⁶ wai¹ ji⁴

                      • Mandarin 夏威夷 Xiàwēiyí
                    • Japanese ハワイ Hawai
                    • Spanish Hawái

                      • Tagalog Haway
                  • Tongan Hauaiʻi
                • Marquesan Havaiʻi underworld, mythical homeland of the first humans in the west
              • Tahitic

                • Māori Hawaiki ancient homeland, where the voyage to Aotearoa left from and where souls return after death
                • Tahitian Havaiʻi

Visual

Footnotes

1. ^

   Polynesian *ʔariki: "foremost, noble, chief" seems like it should be connected to Javanese and Malay aji and Ilokano ári, all meaning "king" (Malayo-Polynesian *haɟi), but the correspondence between Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *h- and Polynesian *ʔ- is irregular.

   I wish I could find an Oceanic but non-Polynesian reflex to help bridge the gap. In the absence of that, it's very possible that Malay and Ilokano also borrowed the word from Kawa (Old Javanese)—as Tagalog did—and there is no real correspondence above the Polynesian level.

   If there is a correspondence, the extra *-ki can be explained as the same derivational suffix seen in various other pairs of words, like *muʔa: "before, in front" and *muʔa-ki: "to be first, to lead" or *lua and *lua-ki, both "to vomit"—probably a variant of *-ʔaki which forms verbs from nouns or adds an intensive or iterative meaning. (Note that in Polynesian languages adjectives and stative verbs, and even noun are not very distinct from each other; while *ʔariki usually seems noun- or adjective-like, that doesn't stop it from being derived from verb morphology.)