''Ua Mau ke Ea o ka Āina i ka Pono'' () is a Hawaiian phrase, spoken by

Kamehameha III Kamehameha III (born Kauikeaouli) (March 17, 1814 – December 15, 1854) was the third king of the Kingdom of Hawaii from 1825 to 1854. His full Hawaiian name was Keaweaweula Kīwalaō Kauikeaouli Kaleiopapa and then lengthened to Keaweaweula K ...

, and adopted in 1959 as the state motto. It is most commonly translated as "the life of the land is perpetuated in righteousness." An alternative translation, which appears at Thomas Square next to a statue of Kamehameha III, is "The sovereignty of the kingdom continues because we are righteous."

History

This phrase was first spoken by

, the King of Hawaii, on July 31, 1843, on Thomas Square, Oʻahu, when the sovereignty of the

Kingdom of Hawaii The Hawaiian Kingdom, also known as the Kingdom of Hawaiʻi (Hawaiian language, Hawaiian: ɛ ɐwˈpuni həˈvɐjʔi, was an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country from 1795 to 1893, which eventually encompassed all of the inhabited Hawaii ...

was returned by the British through the restorative actions of Admiral Richard Darton Thomas, following the brief takeover by Lord George Paulet. Today, the phrase is extensively used by both the

state of Hawaii Hawaii ( ; ) is an island U.S. state, state of the United States, in the Pacific Ocean about southwest of the U.S. mainland. One of the two Non-contiguous United States, non-contiguous U.S. states (along with Alaska), it is the only sta ...

and by Hawaiian sovereignty activists.

Meaning

Some of the words in the phrase have additional meanings or connotations. In particular, ''Ea'' means not only "life" or "breath" but also "sovereignty". Hawaiian activists argue that ''ea'' refers specifically to sovereignty because of the circumstances at the time KamehamehaIII uttered it. Thus, an alternate translation is "The sovereignty of the land is perpetuated in righteousness." ''Pono'', commonly translated as "righteousness", may also connote goodness, fairness, order, or completeness. ''ʻĀina'', translated in the motto as "land", also has a more significant meaning in the Hawaiian language. ''ʻĀina'' is better translated as "that which feeds" and can describe a relationship between Native Hawaiians and the islands.

References

External links

Round-table discussion on righteousness and sovereignty
PBS Hawaii, July 16, 2015 {{DEFAULTSORT:Ua Mau ke Ea o ka 'Aina i ka Pono Hawaiian language Hawaiian words and phrases State mottos of the United States Symbols of Hawaii Hawaiian sovereignty movement