Tupaia – te kaiwhakamārama reo ā-waha tuatahi.
I te tau 1769 ko te tūtakitanga tuatahi a Kapene Kuki (Captain James Cook) ki te Māori. Ko tōna waka ko Endeavour. Kei runga hoki i te Endeavour te tohunga, ariki hoki o Tahiti, a Tupaia. Nā Joseph Banks i tuhi 'now found that the language of the people was so like his own that he could tolerably well understand them and they him’ (he ngāwari noa ki a Tupaia te whakarongo me te kōrero i te reo o te iwi nei, me te pai noa iho hoki o tā rātou whakarongo mai ki ana kōrero).1
He mea nui te noho mai a Tūpaia hei kaiwhakamārama i ngā kōrero, heoi, he wā anō ka hapa. Ko Ūawa tētahi o ngā wahi tōmua rawa i Aotearoa i haerea ai e Kapene Kuki. I te tūtakitanga ki ngā Māori o reira, ka uia e ia ko hea te ingoa o te wāhi rā, ā, ka mahara ngā Māori e pātai ana ia mō te ingoa o te hau i taua wā tonu, koia ka meatia atu, he tāraki; ka whiria e te arero Pākehā kia huaina ko ‘Tologa’.
Ngā Pākehā ka haere tuatahi mai
Ka mōhio wawe ngā Pākehā i haere tuatahi ki Aotearoa, me mātua ako i te reo Māori ka tika. He pērā anō mō ngā heremana, ngā kaipatu tohorā me te hunga tauhokohoko ka whai mai, kāore i kō atu i te ako kia kōrero Māori. Ka noho ngā Pākehā, ā, ka moe wāhine Māori, ka ako i te reo. Taihoa, ka pakeke ā rātou tamariki, ka matatau ki ngā reo e rua, ko ētahi o ngā uri whakaheke ka eke hei takawaenga i ngā taha e rua. He rite anō te āhua i ngā mihinare, me matua ako rātou ki te kōrero Māori.
Te ako ki te tuhi
E ai ki a Joel Polack, tētahi o ngā kaituhi tōmua, he rerekē te tuhi a tēnā, a tēnā i ngā kupu Māori, inā, 'Herd in his chart, calls the Port of Hokianga, Jokeeangar, Mr. Marsden terms it Shukianga, and the Baron de Thierry in his proclamation 1837, Yokianga; the most faithful pronunciation is E'Oakianga ... it is however best known as Hokianga.' (Tērā te tuhituhi a te tangata rā a Herd i te ingoa mō Hokianga, ko Jokeeangar; e ai ki tā Te Mātenga (Samuel Marsden) ko Shukianga, ko tā Baron de Thierry tuhi i tana whakaputanga i te tau 1837, ko E’Oakianga.)2
Te tuhi i te reo Māori
I ngā rā o nehe ehara te reo Māori i te reo tuhituhi. I te tīmatanga he tino rerekē ngā tikanga mō te tuhi. Nāwai, ka tahuri ētahi ki te whai kia ōrite tana tuhi. I te tau 1815 ka puta te pukapuka a Te Kēnara (Thomas Kendall) A korao [korero] nō New Zealand, or, the New Zealander’s first book. Ehara i te mea he tino pai te pukapuka, he iti noa ngā pūkenga wetewete reo o Te Kēnara.
Ka haere a Te Kēnara me Hongi Hika rāua ko tana whanaunga a Waikato ki Ingarangi kia kite i te tohunga wetereo, a Samuel Lee. Nō muri, nō te tau 1820 ka whakaputangia e Te Kēnara te pukapuka, A grammar and vocabulary of the language of New Zealand, te whakakaupapatanga ia o te reo Māori ā-tuhi.
I whakamātauria ngā tikanga nei e Te Rōpū Hāhi Mihinare (Church Missionary Society), me kī, e Te Wiremu (William Williams) rāua ko Te Manihera (Robert Maunsell). I te tau 1844 ko te putanga tuatahi o te papakupu a Wiremu. Tatū rawa ki ngā tau 2000 kāre kau i rerekē ngā tikanga mō te tuhi i te reo, i tua atu i te ‘wh’, i waiho noa ko te ‘w’ me tētahi tohu ki mua. I te putanga tuarua o te papakupu i te tau 1852 ka whakapūmautia te ‘wh’.
He mea nui te tuhi i te reo Māori
Ka tīmata te tauhokohoko a te Pākehā i ngā whenua o te Māori, ka nui atu te reo ka tuhia. Ko ētahi o ngā tuhinga tuatahi rawa i te reo Māori, i takea mai i ngā hokohokonga whenua. Ko tētahi atu tuhinga tōmua rawa ko te Paipera Tapu, he mea i whakapau kaha ngā mihinare kia wātea taua pukapuka ki ngā apataki Māori. I te tau 1834 ka tāngia He Whakaputanga o te Rangatiratanga o Nu Tirene ki te reo Māori, kātahi ka whakamāramatia ā-tuhitia ki te reo Ingarihi. He mea tito te tuhinga nei e ngā rangatira Māori o te raki hei tohu i tō rātou mana motuhake; i whai āwhina ngā rangatira i te mihinare a Te Karu Whā (Henry Williams) rāua ko te āpiha a te Kāwanatanga, a Te Puhipi (James Busby). Tae rawa ki te tau 1840, i whakapākehā te tokorua nei me ētahi atu i Te Tiriti o Waitangi.
