Kauaʻi
1. s. Name of one of the Hawaiian group of islands; ma ka hapukaohiohi ana paha a ka waha me he hoe Kauai la. 2. n. Kauaʻi (name of one of the Hawaiian islands), Kauaʻi person. (perhaps kau, to place + -aʻi, transitivizer.) 3. placename. island and county (33 miles long, 25 miles wide, with an area of 553 square miles and a 1970 population of 29,524). Līhuʻe is the major town and the county seat. Epithet: Kauaʻi oManokalanipō, Kauaʻi of Manokalanipō (an ancient chief; lit., the innumerable dark heavens). Channel between Kauaʻi and Oʻahu. Street, Puʻunui, Honolulu. (For the meaning of Kauaʻi, see Appendix 6.8.)
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419
Hala i Kauaʻi i Kalalau.
Gone to Kalalau, on Kauaʻi.
[Said of one who is off-course mentally or is off gadding somewhere; a blunderer. A play on lalau (to go astray).]
1173
I ʻike ʻoe iā Kauaʻi a puni a ʻike ʻole iā Kauaʻi-iki, ʻaʻole nō ʻoe i ʻike iā Kauaʻi.
If you have seen all of the places on the island of Kauaʻi and have not seen Little Kauaʻi, you have not seen the whole of Kauaʻi.
[Kauaʻi-iki (Little Kauaʻi) is a stone that stood in a taro patch at Wahiawa, Kauaʻi. When it was threatened with destruction by the building of a road, it was rescued by Walter McBryde and taken to Maiʻaloa and later to Kukuiolono Park, where it stands today.]
1555
Kauaʻi a ka ʻai paʻa.
Kauaʻi of the hard poi.
[There was a man of Kauaʻi who was inclined to be stingy and whose favorite meat was dried octopus. He would cut it into small pieces, remove the skin, and mix it into the poi. Whenever hospitality compelled him to invite anyone to share his food, he would say, “I am sorry that I have no meat. All I have is very lumpy poi. Just poke your fingers straight in and pull them up again. Push the lumps aside.” Naturally, many declined the invitation. But one day several visitors from Hawai’i who were very hungry accepted. One noticed that the host was chewing, so he stuck a lump in his mouth and chewed, thus discovering that the lumps were pieces of dried octopus.]
1556
Kauaʻi a Manokalanipo.
Kauai of Manokalanipo.
[Manokalanipo was a chief of Kauaʻi in ancient times.]
2060
Maikaʻi Kauaʻi, hemolele i ka mālie.
Beautiful Kauaʻi, peaceful in the calm.
[Line from a chant.]
2440
ʻO Kauaʻi nui moku lehua, ʻāina nui makekau.
Great Kauaʻi, isle of warriors and land of men ever on the defense.
2560
Paʻakikī kanaka o Kauaʻi.
Tough are the men of Kauaʻi.
[Oʻahu was once inhabited by supernatural beings who ate people. They would extend their hospitality by day, but at night they would eat their sleeping guests. A canoe came from Kauaʻi one day, and among the passengers was a man who was distrustful of the Oahuans. When the other men went to sleep, he dug a hole under the wall, crept into it, pulled a mat over himself, and waited. Late at night he listened as the hosts came and ate his companions. After the evil beings were gone, he hurried to the canoe and sailed home. He told his friends, and together they made wooden images, hid them in the canoe, and sailed for Oʻahu, where they were welcomed. That night the images were put inside the house, while the men hid outside. When the hosts came around to eat the visitors, they bit into the hard wooden images. The Kauaʻi men burned the house, thus ending the evil on Oʻahu.]
2920
Wawā ka menehune i Puʻukapele ma Kauaʻi, puoho ka manu o ka loko o Kawainui ma Oʻahu.
The shouts of the menehune on Puukapele on Kauai startled the birds of Kawainui Pond on Oʻahu.
[The menehune were once so numerous on Kaua’i that their shouting could be heard on O’ahu. Said of too much boisterous talking.]
