''Aloha'' ( , ) is the Hawaiian word for love,

affection Affection or fondness is a "disposition or state of mind or body" that is often associated with a feeling or type of love. It has given rise to a number of branches of philosophy and psychology concerning emotion, disease, influence, and sta ...

, peace,

compassion Compassion motivates people to go out of their way to relieve the physical, mental or emotional pains of others and themselves. Compassion is often regarded as being sensitive to the emotional aspects of the suffering of others. When based on n ...

and mercy, that is commonly used as a simple greeting but has a deeper cultural and spiritual significance to

native Hawaiians Native Hawaiians (also known as Indigenous Hawaiians, Kānaka Maoli, Aboriginal Hawaiians, First Hawaiians, or simply Hawaiians) ( haw, kānaka, , , and ), are the indigenous ethnic group of Polynesian people of the Hawaiian Islands. Hawaii ...

, for whom the term is used to define a force that holds together existence. The word is found in all Polynesian languages and always with the same basic meaning of "love, compassion, sympathy, kindness", although the use in Hawaii has a seriousness lacking in the Tahitian and Samoan meanings. Mary Kawena Pukui wrote that the "first expression" of ''aloha'' was between a parent and child. Lorrin Andrews wrote the first Hawaiian dictionary, called ''A Dictionary of the Hawaiian Language''. In it, he describes ''aloha'' as "A word expressing different feelings: love, affection, gratitude, kindness, pity, compassion, grief, the modern common salutation at meeting; parting". Mary Kawena Pukui and Samuel Hoyt Elbert's ''Hawaiian Dictionary: Hawaiian-English, English-Hawaiian'' also contains a similar definition.

Anthropologist An anthropologist is a person engaged in the practice of anthropology. Anthropology is the study of aspects of humans within past and present societies. Social anthropology, cultural anthropology and philosophical anthropology study the norms and ...

Francis Newton states that "Aloha is a complex and profound sentiment. Such emotions defy definition".

Anna Wierzbicka Anna Wierzbicka (born 10 March 1938 in Warsaw) is a Poles, Polish linguistics, linguist who is Emeritus Professor at the Australian National University, Canberra. Brought up in Poland, she graduated from Warsaw University and emigrated to Austr ...

concludes that the term has "no equivalent in English". The state of Hawaii introduced the Aloha Spirit law in 1986, which mandates that state officials and judges treat the public with Aloha.

Etymology

''Aloha'' was borrowed from the Hawaiian ''aloha'' to English language. The Hawaiian word has evolved from the

Proto-Polynesian Proto-Polynesian (abbreviated PPn) is the hypothetical proto-language from which all the modern Polynesian languages descend. It is a daughter language of the Proto-Austronesian language. Historical linguists have reconstructed the language using ...

greeting '' *qarofa,'' which also meant "love, pity, or compassion". It is further thought to be evolved from

Proto-Oceanic Proto-Oceanic (abbr. ''POc'') is a proto-language that historical linguists since Otto Dempwolff have reconstructed as the hypothetical common ancestor of the Oceanic subgroup of the Austronesian language family. Proto-Oceanic is a descendant ...

root ''*qarop(-i)'' meaning "feel pity, empathy, be sorry for", which in turn descends from Proto-Malayo-Polynesian ''*harep.''Ross Clark and Simon J. Greenhill, editors (2011), �
QAROFA (A)
��, in POLLEX-Online: The Polynesian Lexicon Project Online ''Aloha'' has numerous cognates in other Polynesian languages, such as '' talofa'' in Samoan, ''ta'alofa'' in Tuvaluan, and '' aro'a'' in Cook Islands Māori. Māori given name Aroha is also descended from the Proto-Polynesian root.

References

{{reflist Hawaiiana Hawaiian words and phrases Greeting words and phrases Parting phrases

Etymology

See also

References