Te wiki o te reo Māori: Mana whenua want understanding of world's longest place name to grow

It's Te Matau-a-Māui's ultimate te reo Māori challenge - pronouncing the world's longest placename - and mana whenua say they're keen for the understanding of it to grow.

Taumatawhakatangihangakoauauotamateaturipukakapikimaungahoronukupokaiwhenuakitanatahu is a maunga kōrero and also a sacred site and with a total of 85 letters, has been published in the Guinness Book of Records as the longest placename in the world.

Cian Jefferson and Thomas Hughes, co-owners of Bayside Bagels, wrap their chops around the placename. Photo / Warren Buckland

The hill's name in English translates to the place where Tamatea, the man with the big knees, conqueror of mountains, eater of land, traveller over land and sea, played his flute to lament his brother.

Anthony Tipene-Matua is chairman of Rongomaraeroa Marae, director of Māori heritage at Heritage NZ and a direct descendant of Tamatea-Pōkai-Whenua.

"Tamatea-Ariki-Nui is the ancestor that travelled on the Takitimu waka to Aotearoa, whose son was Rongokako who begat Tamatea-pōkai-whenua.

"Tamatea was a great navigator, the Māori Marco Polo, who travelled the North and South Island," Tipene-Matua said.

Tamatea-Pōkai-Whenua, along with one of his wives, Muriwhenua - parents of Kahungunu - is who mana whenua Ngāti Kere trace their lineage to.

"He is remembered by his name, which is embedded in the South Island as well as here, in the longest placename," he said.

Taumatawhakatangihangakoauauotamateaturipukakapikimaungahoronukupokaiwhenuakitanatahu at sunrise. Photo / Supplied

"There has been a time when the placename was romanticised. There was a misconception that Tamatea played the flute to his beloved, but that's not our local definition of the placename," he said.

The word kōauau, which is found in the placename, can be broken down into separate references to Tāne-Mahuta, god of the forest.

Kō is the onomatopoeia (sound-imitating word) for the call or song of a bird and auau is the onomatopoeia for the howl of a dog.

"There's a story of a traveller who left his dogs at the bottom of the mountain when he climbed to the top of it every night and he would have to listen to his dogs crying.

"This is the kōauau, the lament for someone who is no longer there. If you're not present at a tangihanga, playing the kōauau could be your gesture to herald someone's wairua into the next world," he said.

Bailey Sanders, front of house at Brave Brewery, was one of the locals who gave the placename a go. Photo / Warren Buckland

The legend of Tamatea provides an opportunity for New Zealanders to engage in the Māori history of the whenua and through the place's lengthy name, a chance to kōrero Māori.

"The hapū of Ngāti Kere hold mana over the longest placename and consider this unique location and piece of history a taonga to commemorate their ancestor for many generations to come," said Katarina Scott, Ngāti Kere hapū descendant.