Haole
Encyclopedia
Haole in the Hawaiian language
, is generally used to refer to an individual that fits one (or more) of the following: "White person, American, Englishman, Caucasian; American, English; formerly, any foreigner; foreign, introduced, of foreign origin, as plants, pigs, chickens". The origins of the word predate the 1778 arrival of Captain James Cook
(which is the generally accepted date of first contact with westerners), as recorded in several chants stemming from antiquity. Its use historically has ranged from descriptive to racist invective.
Today it is often applied to any who are of Caucasian ancestry, or to those who think or behave in a foreign manner.
n greeting by touching nose-to-nose and inhaling or essentially sharing each other's breaths, and so the foreigners were described as "breathless." The implication is not only that foreigners are aloof and ignorant of local ways, but also literally have no spirit or life within.
Some linguists believe that this etymology is erroneous, however, for these reasons:
However, as the word predates the first written Hawaiian dictionary by centuries, and pronunciations have evolved over that time, the debate continues, and each camp has its adherents.
The Andrews Dictionary of 1865 shows the pronunciation of the word as ha-o-le.
St. Chad Piianaia, a Hawaiian educated in England, said the word haole implies thief or robber (from hao, thief, and le, lazy). In 1944, Hawaiian scholar Charles Kenn wrote, "In the primary and esoteric meaning, haole indicates a race that has no relation to one's own; an outsider, one who does not conform to the mores of the group; one that is void of the life element because of inattention to natural laws which make for the goodness in man. In its secondary meaning, haole ... implies a thief, a robber, one not to be trusted. ... During the course of time, meanings of words change, and today, in a very general way, haole does not necessarily connote a negative thought ... The word has come to refer to one of Nordic descent, whether born in Hawaii or elsewhere."
Native Hawaiian Professor Fred Beckley said, "The white people came to be known as ha-ole (without breath) because after they said their prayers, they did not breathe three times as was customary in ancient Hawaii."
Similarly, an early Christian is quoted, "Before the missionaries came, my people used to sit outside their temples for a long time meditating and preparing themselves before entering. Then they would virtually creep to the altar to offer their petition and afterwards would again sit a long time outside, this time to 'breathe life' into their prayers. The Christians, when they came, just got up, uttered a few sentences, said Amen, and were done. For that reason my people called them haoles, 'without breath,' or those who failed to breathe life into their prayers."
The word has been adopted on many of the Pacific Islands to refer to non-local individuals. In practice, though, the word is not so highly charged in many of the other islands, such as Guam
or Saipan
. Other Polynesian languages, such as Tongan
and Samoan
, use the word pālangi or papālangi (ultimately linked to a word meaning Western European, or a Frank
, see farangi).
, in which non-white school children harass or assault white children on the last day of school prior to summer. The practice has led to the introduction of hate crime legislation intended to discourage it. A similar incident was depicted in the 1998 film Beyond Paradise
.
It was mentioned in an opinion of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in 2010.
Others claim that the day is an urban myth, since most reports are based on hearsay
.
Hawaiian language
The Hawaiian language is a Polynesian language that takes its name from Hawaii, the largest island in the tropical North Pacific archipelago where it developed. Hawaiian, along with English, is an official language of the state of Hawaii...
, is generally used to refer to an individual that fits one (or more) of the following: "White person, American, Englishman, Caucasian; American, English; formerly, any foreigner; foreign, introduced, of foreign origin, as plants, pigs, chickens". The origins of the word predate the 1778 arrival of Captain James Cook
James Cook
Captain James Cook, FRS, RN was a British explorer, navigator and cartographer who ultimately rose to the rank of captain in the Royal Navy...
(which is the generally accepted date of first contact with westerners), as recorded in several chants stemming from antiquity. Its use historically has ranged from descriptive to racist invective.
History
Haole first became associated with the children of Caucasian immigrants in the early 1820s. It unified the self-identity of these Hawaii-born children whose parents were as much culturally different as they were similar. With the first three generations of Haole playing key roles in the rise of the economic and political power shifts that have lasted through the current day, "Haole" evolved into a term that was often used in contempt. It evolved further to racial meaning, replacing malihini (newcomer) in addressing people of Caucasian descent who move to Hawaii from the U.S. mainland by the 1860s. A 1906 phrase book sometimes translates it to "English (language)".Today it is often applied to any who are of Caucasian ancestry, or to those who think or behave in a foreign manner.
Etymology
A common popular etymology claim is that the word is derived from hāole, literally meaning "no breath". Some Hawaiians say that because foreigners did not know or use the honi, a PolynesiaPolynesia
Polynesia is a subregion of Oceania, made up of over 1,000 islands scattered over the central and southern Pacific Ocean. The indigenous people who inhabit the islands of Polynesia are termed Polynesians and they share many similar traits including language, culture and beliefs...
n greeting by touching nose-to-nose and inhaling or essentially sharing each other's breaths, and so the foreigners were described as "breathless." The implication is not only that foreigners are aloof and ignorant of local ways, but also literally have no spirit or life within.
Some linguists believe that this etymology is erroneous, however, for these reasons:
- There are innumerable citations from Hawaiian showing that haole simply means "foreign." For example, haole popolo means a dark-skinned foreigner, haole pake means Chinese foreigner. The term haole is found in ancient HawaiiAncient HawaiiAncient Hawaii refers to the period of Hawaiian human history preceding the unification of the Kingdom of Hawaii by Kamehameha the Great in 1810. After being first settled by Polynesian long-distance navigators sometime between AD 300–800, a unique culture developed. Diversified agroforestry and...
an chants which pre-date European contact to refer to newcomers from elsewhere in Polynesia. - The Lorrin AndrewsLorrin AndrewsLorrin Andrews was an early American missionary to Hawaii and judge. He opened the first post-secondary school for Hawaiians called Lahainaluna Seminary, prepared a Hawaiian dictionary and several works on the literature and antiquities of the Hawaiians. His students published the first newspaper,...
Dictionary of 1865 refers to a white-haired pig as puaa haole. - The word 'breath' is hā (with a macronMacronA macron, from the Greek , meaning "long", is a diacritic placed above a vowel . It was originally used to mark a long or heavy syllable in Greco-Roman metrics, but now marks a long vowel...
or kahakō over the a), not plain ha. The word 'not' is ole, with a glottal stopGlottal stopThe glottal stop, or more fully, the voiceless glottal plosive, is a type of consonantal sound used in many spoken languages. In English, the feature is represented, for example, by the hyphen in uh-oh! and by the apostrophe or [[ʻokina]] in Hawaii among those using a preservative pronunciation of...
or okina, not ole, which means "fang." In spoken Hawaiian, vowel lengthVowel lengthIn linguistics, vowel length is the perceived duration of a vowel sound. Often the chroneme, or the "longness", acts like a consonant, and may etymologically be one, such as in Australian English. While not distinctive in most dialects of English, vowel length is an important phonemic factor in...
is contrastive, and these are major differences in pronunciation. However, they would not appear in Hawaiian dictionaries using the older form of Hawaiian spelling, which did not use kahakō or okinaOkinaThe okina, also called by several other names , is a unicameral consonant letter used within the Latin script to mark the phonetic glottal stop, as it is used in many Polynesian languages.- Geographic names in the United States :...
(considered a consonantConsonantIn articulatory phonetics, a consonant is a speech sound that is articulated with complete or partial closure of the vocal tract. Examples are , pronounced with the lips; , pronounced with the front of the tongue; , pronounced with the back of the tongue; , pronounced in the throat; and ,...
) to indicate vowel length and glottal stops. Only modern dictionaries show the kahakō and okina. It is possible that the folk etymology was created by someone with only a dictionary knowledge of Hawaiian, using an older dictionary.
However, as the word predates the first written Hawaiian dictionary by centuries, and pronunciations have evolved over that time, the debate continues, and each camp has its adherents.
The Andrews Dictionary of 1865 shows the pronunciation of the word as ha-o-le.
St. Chad Piianaia, a Hawaiian educated in England, said the word haole implies thief or robber (from hao, thief, and le, lazy). In 1944, Hawaiian scholar Charles Kenn wrote, "In the primary and esoteric meaning, haole indicates a race that has no relation to one's own; an outsider, one who does not conform to the mores of the group; one that is void of the life element because of inattention to natural laws which make for the goodness in man. In its secondary meaning, haole ... implies a thief, a robber, one not to be trusted. ... During the course of time, meanings of words change, and today, in a very general way, haole does not necessarily connote a negative thought ... The word has come to refer to one of Nordic descent, whether born in Hawaii or elsewhere."
Native Hawaiian Professor Fred Beckley said, "The white people came to be known as ha-ole (without breath) because after they said their prayers, they did not breathe three times as was customary in ancient Hawaii."
Similarly, an early Christian is quoted, "Before the missionaries came, my people used to sit outside their temples for a long time meditating and preparing themselves before entering. Then they would virtually creep to the altar to offer their petition and afterwards would again sit a long time outside, this time to 'breathe life' into their prayers. The Christians, when they came, just got up, uttered a few sentences, said Amen, and were done. For that reason my people called them haoles, 'without breath,' or those who failed to breathe life into their prayers."
The word has been adopted on many of the Pacific Islands to refer to non-local individuals. In practice, though, the word is not so highly charged in many of the other islands, such as Guam
Guam
Guam is an organized, unincorporated territory of the United States located in the western Pacific Ocean. It is one of five U.S. territories with an established civilian government. Guam is listed as one of 16 Non-Self-Governing Territories by the Special Committee on Decolonization of the United...
or Saipan
Saipan
Saipan is the largest island of the United States Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands , a chain of 15 tropical islands belonging to the Marianas archipelago in the western Pacific Ocean with a total area of . The 2000 census population was 62,392...
. Other Polynesian languages, such as Tongan
Tongan language
Tongan is an Austronesian language spoken in Tonga. It has around 200,000 speakers and is a national language of Tonga. It is a VSO language.-Related languages:...
and Samoan
Samoan language
Samoan Samoan Samoan (Gagana Sāmoa, is the language of the Samoan Islands, comprising the independent country of Samoa and the United States territory of American Samoa. It is an official language—alongside English—in both jurisdictions. Samoan, a Polynesian language, is the first language for most...
, use the word pālangi or papālangi (ultimately linked to a word meaning Western European, or a Frank
French people
The French are a nation that share a common French culture and speak the French language as a mother tongue. Historically, the French population are descended from peoples of Celtic, Latin and Germanic origin, and are today a mixture of several ethnic groups...
, see farangi).
Discrimination
An alleged tradition in some schools is Kill Haole DayKill Haole Day
In some of Hawaii's schools, the last day of school before summer is reputedly known as Kill Haole Day. On Kill Haole Day, school children harass and sometimes assault white children. The origins of the day are unknown, but the tradition dates back to the 1950s....
, in which non-white school children harass or assault white children on the last day of school prior to summer. The practice has led to the introduction of hate crime legislation intended to discourage it. A similar incident was depicted in the 1998 film Beyond Paradise
Beyond Paradise
Beyond Paradise is a 1998 American independent film directed by David L. Cunningham.-Plot:The film is a semi-autobiographical tale of Cunningham's years in Hawai'i. He leaves Los Angeles and moves with his mother to the Big Island and befriends three "locals", Ronnie, Zulu and Keao...
.
It was mentioned in an opinion of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in 2010.
Others claim that the day is an urban myth, since most reports are based on hearsay
Hearsay
Hearsay is information gathered by one person from another person concerning some event, condition, or thing of which the first person had no direct experience. When submitted as evidence, such statements are called hearsay evidence. As a legal term, "hearsay" can also have the narrower meaning of...
.
Further reading
- Elvi Whittaker (1986). The Mainland Haole: The White Experience in Hawaii. New York: Columbia University Press.i | journal=Social Process in Hawaii | year=1997 | volume=38 | pages=140–161}}
- Judy Rohrer (2010). Haoles in Hawaii. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press.
See also
- PalagiPalagiPalagi or papaalagi is a term in Samoan culture of uncertain meaning, but sometimes used to describe foreigners or anything that does not 'belong' to Samoan culture...
- PākehāPakehaPākehā is a Māori language word for New Zealanders who are "of European descent". They are mostly descended from British and to a lesser extent Irish settlers of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, although some Pākehā have Dutch, Scandinavian, German, Yugoslav or other ancestry...
- John YoungJohn Young (Hawaii)John Young was a British subject who became an important military advisor to Kamehameha I during the formation of the Kingdom of Hawaii. He was left behind by Simon Metcalfe, captain of the American ship Eleanora, and along with a Welshmen Isaac Davis became a friend and advisor to Kamehameha...
- Isaac DavisIsaac Davis (Hawaii)Isaac Davis was a Welsh advisor to Kamehameha I and helped form the Kingdom of Hawaii. He arrived in Hawaii in 1790 as the sole survivor of the massacre of the crew of The Fair American. He along with John Young became friends and advisors to Kamehameha...
- List of terms for white people in non-Western cultures
- List of ethnic slurs