| 35 | Aia iā Kaʻaikiola. | Kaʻaikiola has it. |
| | [Mr. Throw-away has it. A play on the name Ka-ʻai-kiola (Throw-away-food). Said when an article is carelessly mislaid.] |
| 52 | Aia ka ʻike iā Polihua a lei i ka mānewanewa. | One proves a visit to Polihua by wearing a lei of mānewanewa. |
| | [A person proves his visit to a place by bringing back something native to the area. Refers to Polihua, Lānaʻi.] |
| 74 | Aia paha iā Lima-ʻāpā. | Perhaps Touch-hand has taken it. |
| | [Somebody with very quick hands must have taken it.] |
| 112 | A! Loaʻa akula iā ʻoe nā niu o Kaunalewa. | Ah! Now you have the coconuts of Kaunalewa. |
| | [Your worldly possessions are gone. An impolite saying with a play on Kau-nā-lewa (Hang-suspended), as if to say, “Now all you have is a hanging scrotum.” Kaunalewa was a famous coconut grove on Kauaʻi.] |
| 127 | ʻAʻohe ʻalawa wale iho iā Maliʻo. | Not even a glance at Maliʻo. |
| | [Said of a haughty person. Pele was once so annoyed with Maliʻo and her brother Halaaniani that she turned them both into stone and let them lie in the sea in Puna, Hawaiʻi. It was at the bay named after Halaaniani that clusters of pandanus were tossed into the sea with tokens to loved ones. These were borne by the current to Kamilo in Kaʻū.] |
| 128 | ʻAʻohe aʻu ʻala ʻinamona iā ʻoukou. | I do not find even the fragrance of roasted kukui nuts in you. |
| | [I don’t find the least bit of good in you. First uttered by Pele to her sisters, who refused to go to Kauaʻi for her lover, Lohi’au.] |
| 132 | ʻAʻohe e loaʻa Niu-a-Kāne iā ʻoe. | Youll never be able to reach Kāne’s coconuts. |
| | [Said of something unattainable. Niu-a-Kāne is a rock islet in the sea at Hāna, Maui.] |
| 148 | ʻAʻohe ʻike wale iho iā Maliʻo, i ka huhuki laweau a Uwēkahuna. | Malio is not recognized because Uwēkahuna is drawing her away. |
| | [Said of one who refuses to recognize old friends and associates or is snubbed by friends because they have interests elsewhere. Maliʻo was a mythical woman of Puna whom Pele once snubbed. Uwēkahuna is the bluff overlooking the crater of Kīlauea.] |
| 186 | ʻAʻohe mea koe aku iā Makaliʻi; pau nō ka liko me ka lāʻele. | Makaliʻi left nothing, taking [everything] from buds to old leaves. |
| | [Said of one who selfishly takes all, or of a lecherous person who takes those of the opposite sex of all ages. From a legend surrounding a chief, Makaliʻi, who took from his people until they faced starvation.] |
| 191 | ʻAʻohe na ia mau mea e uē iā ʻoe, na ke kanaka ʻoe e uē. | Things will not mourn you, but people will. |
| | [Said to one who thinks more of his possessions than of his kinfolk or friends.] |
| 273 | E hakoko ana ʻo Heneli me Keoni Pulu; ua lilo ke eo iā Keoni Pulu. | Henry and John Bull wrestle; John Bull wins. |
| | [Hunger is routed by filling the stomach. Henry (Hunger) and John Bull (Fullness) wrestle until John Bull wins the match.] |
| 276 | E hana mua a paʻa ke kahua ma mua o ke aʻo ana aku iā haʻi. | Build yourself a firm foundation before teaching others. |
| 284 | E hoʻi e peʻe i ke ōpū weuweu me he moho lā. E ao o haʻi ka pua o ka mauʻu iā ʻoe. | Go back and hide among the clumps of grass like the wingless rail. Be careful not to break even a blade of grass. |
| | [Retum to the country to live a humble life and leave no trace to be noticed and followed. So said the chief Keliʻiwahamana to his daughter when he was dying. Later used as advice to a young person not to be aggressive or show off.] |
| 341 | E loaʻa ana iā ʻoe ka mea a Paʻahao. | Youll get what Paʻahao has. |
| | [Paʻahao, a native of Kaʻiā, was often teased by his neighbors because when annoyed he would snap, “Naio!” (“Pinworms!”) This amused his tormentors. When annoyed, one might say, “You’ll get what Paʻahao has.” Paʻahao lived in Waiōhinu, Kaʻū, during the late 1800s and early 1900s.] |
| 368 | ʻEono moku a Kamehameha ua noa iā ʻoukou, akā ʻo ka hiku o ka moku ua kapu ia naʻu. | Six of Kamehameha’s islands are free to you, but the seventh is kapu, and is for me alone. |
| | [This was uttered by Kamehameha after Oʻahu was conquered. The islands from Hawaiʻi to Oʻahu, which included Maui, Molokaʻi, Lānaʻi, and Kahoʻolawe, belonged to his people. But the seventh “island,” Kaʻahumanu, was his alone. Anyone who attempted to take her from him would be put to death.] |
| 417 | Haki kākala o Piʻilani, ʻike pono ʻo luna iā lalo. | Roughness breaks in Piʻilani, those above recognize those below. |
| | [A storm breaks loose and those above — rain, lightning, thunder, wind — show their effects to the people below.] |
| 424 | Hala ka Puʻulena aia i Hilo ua ʻimi akula iā Papalauahi. | The Puʻulena breeze is gone to Hilo in search of Papalauahi. |
| | [Said of one who has gone away or of one who finds himself too late to do anything.] |
| 514 | Hea ʻia mai kēia kanaka, malia he inoa i loaʻa iā ʻoe. | Call an invitation to this person, perhaps you know the name. |
| | [A request to be called into someone’s home, usually uttered by a passing relative or friend who would like to pause and rest but is not sure that he is recognized by the others.] |
| 543 | He ana ka manaʻo o ke kanaka, ʻaʻole ʻoe e ʻike iā loko. | The thoughts of man are like caves whose interiors one cannot see. |
| 640 | He ʻio ʻoe, he ʻio au, he ʻio nā ʻānela o ke akua, kiʻi maila nō iā ʻoe a lawe. | You are a hawk, I am a hawk, and the angels of God are hawks. |
| | [Uttered by Hitchcock, a missionary, over the coffin of a sorcerer who had threatened to pray him to death and referred to himself as an ʻio, the bird that flies the highest.] |
| 767 | He lohe ʻōlelo iā Kalehuawehe, he ʻike maka iā Kuaokalā. | Have only heard of Kalehuawehe, but have seen Kuaokalā. |
| | [That is only hearsay so I do not know much about it; but this I have seen and know about.] |
| 994 | Hilinaʻi Puna, kālele iā Kaʻū. | Puna leans and reclines on Kaʻū. |
| | [Said of one who leans or depends on another. The ancestors of these two districts were originally of one extended family. The time came when those of each district decided to have a name of their own, without breaking the link entirely. Those in Kaʻū referred to themselves as the Mākaha and those in Puna as the Kumākaha. These names are mentioned in the chants of the chiefs of Kaʻū.] |
| 1014 | Hoʻahewa nā niuhi iā Kaʻahupāhau. | The man-eating sharks blamed Kaʻahupāhau. |
| | [Evil-doers blame the person who safeguards the rights of others. Kaʻahupāhau was the guardian shark goddess of Puʻuloa (Pearl Harbor) who drove out or destroyed all the man-eating sharks.] |
| 1037 | Hoʻi ke ao o ke kuahiwi, hoʻi ka makani iā Kumukahi. | The cloud returns to the mountain, the wind returns to Kumukahi. |
| | [Said of a group of people dispersed, each going to his own abode.] |
| 1130 | Huikau nā makau a ka lawaiʻa i Wailua, lou mai ʻo Kawelowai iā Waiehu. | The fishhooks of the fishers became entangled at Wailua and caught Kawelowai at Waiehu. |
| | [An entangling love affair. The first line of a chant.] |
| 1148 | Iā ia a hiki, make ka puaʻa. | As soon as he arrived, the pig died. |
| | [It was the custom to kill and roast a pig when a very welcome guest arrived.] |
| 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.] |
| 1211 | ʻIke maka iā Kaneoneo. | He has seen Kaneoneo for himself. |
| | [Said of one who has been disappointed. A play on Ka-neoneo (The Nothing).] |
| 1249 | I paʻa iā ia ʻaʻole ʻoe e puka. | If it had ended with him [or her] you would not be here. |
| | [Said to a younger sibling to encourage more respect for an elder.] |
| 1257 | I puni iā ʻoe o Kaʻū a i ʻike ʻole ʻoe iā Kaʻūloa, ʻaʻohe nō ʻoe i ʻike iā Kaʻū. | If you have been around Kaʻū and have not seen Kaʻūloa, you have not seen the whole of the district. Kaʻūloa and Waiōhinu were two stones, wife and husband, that stood in a kukui grove on the upper side of the road between Na’alehu and Waiōhinu. With the passing of time, these stones gradually sank until they vanished completely into the earth. After Kaʻūloa was no longer seen, Palahemo was substituted as the chief point of interest. |
| 1258 | I puni iā ʻoe o Lānaʻi a i ʻike ʻole iā Lānaʻi-Kaʻula me Lānaʻi-Hale, ʻaʻohe nō ʻoe i ʻike iā Lānaʻi. | If you have gone around Lānaʻi, and have not seen Lānaʻi Kaʻula and Lānaʻi Hale, you have not seen all of Lānaʻi. |
| 1819 | Kō ke au iā Halaʻea. | The current carried Halaʻea away. |
| | [Said of one who goes out and forgets to return. Halaʻea was a chief of Kaʻū who was so selfish that he demanded every fish caught by the fishermen. After years of going without fish, the fishermen rebelled. One day, the whole fleet went to the fishing grounds outside of Kalae and did not return. The chief wanted the catch and ordered a servant to go and ask for it. The servant refused, and in anger the chief went himself. When he asked for the fish the whole fleet turned the prows of their canoes shoreward. One by one the fishermen unloaded their fish onto the chief’s canoe. The canoe began to sink under the weight of the fish, and the chief cried out to the men to stop. They refused. The chief, his canoe, and his fish were swept out on the current and never seen again. This current, which comes from the east and flows out to sea at Kalae, is known as Ke au o Halaʻea.] |
| 2104 | Make iā Pipili. | Killed by Pipili. |
| | [Killed by Stick-around. So boasted Kamehameha I when he slew Kapakahili, a Maui chief, in the battle of Kawaʻanui. He stuck around and succeeded in eliminating a foe.] |
| 2188 | Moku ka ihu iā Hio lā! | Bitten off is the nose by Hio! |
| | [Used by adults to frighten children into staying at home. Hio was an akua (ghost) who wandered about peering into the doors of homes and biting off the noses of those who annoyed him. He escaped when his companions were caught in a fishnet set by the super-natural hero Kamiki at Kuʻunaakeakua (Net-let-down-for-akua), Makalawena, Kona.] |
| 2410 | ʻO ka ʻīlio i paoa ka waha i ka hua moa ʻaʻole e pau ia hana iā ia. | A dog whose mouth likes the taste of eggs will not stop taking them. |
| | [Said of one who cannot be cured of a bad habit.] |
| 2514 | ʻO nā hōkū o ka lani kai ʻike iā Pae. Aia a loaʻa ka pūnana o ke kōlea, loaʻa ʻo ia iā ʻoe. | Only the stars of heaven know where Pae is. When you find a plover’s nest, then you will find him. |
| | [Said of something so well hidden that it will not be found. Pae was a priest in the reign of ʻUmi. He was so lucky in fishing that the chief desired his bones for fishhooks after his death. When Pae died, his sons hid his bones so well that none of the chiefs and priests could find them. The sons would say, “When you find the nest of the plover, then will you find him.” But ʻUmi enlisted the help of a noted priest of Kauaʻi, who saw the ghost of Pae drinking from a spring in Waimanu Valley. Thus were the bones of Pae found and made into fishhooks for the chief. The sons of Pae were reminded that the chief was using their father’s bones for hooks by his constant cry, “O Pae, hold fast to our fish!”] |
| 2541 | ʻO Ulumaheihei wale nō, iā ia ʻo loko, iā ia ʻo waho. | Ulumaheihei knows everything inside and out. |
| | [ʻOne who knows everything. Ulumaheihei was a very close friend of Kamehameha, who renamed him Hoapili. He was the king’s most trusted friend and knew every affair of the kingdom. It was to him that Kamehameha entrusted his bones after death.] |
| 2613 | Pau ʻole ka ʻepa iā Hawaiʻi. | Endless is the strange behavior of those of Hawaii. |
| | [An expression of humor or annoyance used in old newspapers whenever Hawaiians criticized one another.] |
| 2838 | Ua ola nō ʻo kai iā kai. | Shore dwellers find subsistence in the sea. |
| | [A fisherman lives by his own efforts. This thought uttered by a farmer is Ua ola nō ʻo uka iā uka.] |
| 2887 | Uē ka hoʻi ka naonao iā ʻoe! | So the ants will cry for you! |
| | [A sarcastic remark meaning, “You think you are so important that even the ants will cry for you.”] |