All Topics  
Aloha

 
Aloha

 
   Email Print
   Bookmark   Link
 

 

Aloha
 
 
  Topics Aloha Topic Home

Aloha in the Hawaiian language
Hawaiian language

The Hawaiian language is an Austronesian languages that takes its name from Hawaii , the largest island in the tropical North Pacific archipelago where it developed....
 means affection
Affection

Affection 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 meaning concerning: emotion ; disease; influence; state of being ; and state of mind Affect ....
, love
Love

Love is any of a number of emotions and experiences related to a sense of strong affection and attachment . The word wikt:en:love can refer to a variety of different feelings, states, and attitudes, ranging from generic pleasure to intense interpersonal attraction....
, peace
Peace

Peace is a term that most commonly refers to an absence of aggression, violence or hostility, but which also represents a larger concept wherein there are healthy or newly-healed interpersonal relationship or international relations, safety in matters of social or economic welfare, the acknowledgment of equality and fairness in political re...
, compassion
Compassion

Compassion is commonly defined as a profound human emotion prompted by the suffering of others. More vigorous than empathy, the feeling commonly gives rise to an active desire to alleviate another's suffering....
 and mercy
Mercy

Mercy can refer both to compassionate behaviour on the part of those in power or on the part of a humanitarian third party .Mercy is a word used to describe compassion shown by one person to another, or a request from one person to another to be shown such leniency or unwarranted compassion for a crime or wrongdoing....
. Since the middle of the 19th century, it also has come to be used as an English
English language

English is a West Germanic language that originated in Anglo-Saxon England and has lingua franca status in many parts of the world as a result of the military, economic, scientific, political and cultural influence of the British Empire in the 18th, 19th and early 20th centuries and that of the United States from the mid 20th century onwa...
 greeting to say goodbye and hello
Hello

Hello is a salutation or Greeting habits in the English language. Hello was recorded in dictionaries in 1883....
.

It is also the state nickname of Hawaii
Hawaii

File:Pahoehoe and Aa flows at Hawaii.jpgThe State of Hawaii is a U.S. state in the United States, located on an archipelago in the central Pacific Ocean southwest of the continental United States, southeast of Japan, and northeast of Australia....
, the "Aloha State".

word aloha derives from the Proto-Polynesian
Proto-Polynesian language

Proto-Polynesian is the hypothetical proto-language from which all modern Polynesian languages descend.Notes...
 root *alofa.






Discussion
Ask a question about 'Aloha'
Start a new discussion about 'Aloha'
Answer questions from other users
Full Discussion Forum



Encyclopedia


Alohatoweratnight
Aloha in the Hawaiian language
Hawaiian language

The Hawaiian language is an Austronesian languages that takes its name from Hawaii , the largest island in the tropical North Pacific archipelago where it developed....
 means affection
Affection

Affection 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 meaning concerning: emotion ; disease; influence; state of being ; and state of mind Affect ....
, love
Love

Love is any of a number of emotions and experiences related to a sense of strong affection and attachment . The word wikt:en:love can refer to a variety of different feelings, states, and attitudes, ranging from generic pleasure to intense interpersonal attraction....
, peace
Peace

Peace is a term that most commonly refers to an absence of aggression, violence or hostility, but which also represents a larger concept wherein there are healthy or newly-healed interpersonal relationship or international relations, safety in matters of social or economic welfare, the acknowledgment of equality and fairness in political re...
, compassion
Compassion

Compassion is commonly defined as a profound human emotion prompted by the suffering of others. More vigorous than empathy, the feeling commonly gives rise to an active desire to alleviate another's suffering....
 and mercy
Mercy

Mercy can refer both to compassionate behaviour on the part of those in power or on the part of a humanitarian third party .Mercy is a word used to describe compassion shown by one person to another, or a request from one person to another to be shown such leniency or unwarranted compassion for a crime or wrongdoing....
. Since the middle of the 19th century, it also has come to be used as an English
English language

English is a West Germanic language that originated in Anglo-Saxon England and has lingua franca status in many parts of the world as a result of the military, economic, scientific, political and cultural influence of the British Empire in the 18th, 19th and early 20th centuries and that of the United States from the mid 20th century onwa...
 greeting to say goodbye and hello
Hello

Hello is a salutation or Greeting habits in the English language. Hello was recorded in dictionaries in 1883....
.

It is also the state nickname of Hawaii
Hawaii

File:Pahoehoe and Aa flows at Hawaii.jpgThe State of Hawaii is a U.S. state in the United States, located on an archipelago in the central Pacific Ocean southwest of the continental United States, southeast of Japan, and northeast of Australia....
, the "Aloha State".

Etymology

The word aloha derives from the Proto-Polynesian
Proto-Polynesian language

Proto-Polynesian is the hypothetical proto-language from which all modern Polynesian languages descend.Notes...
 root *alofa. It has descendents in other Polynesian languages
Polynesian languages

The Polynesian languages are a language family spoken in the region known as Polynesia. They are classified as part of the Austronesian languages, belonging to the Eastern Eastern Malayo-Polynesian languages branch of that family....
, such as the Maori
Maori language

Maori or te reo Maori, also commonly shortened to te reo , functions as one of the official languages of New Zealand. Linguists classify it within the Eastern Polynesian languages as closely related to Cook Islands Maori, Tuamotuan language and Tahitian language; somewhat less closely to Hawaiian language and Marquesan language; a...
 word aroha, also meaning "love."

A folk etymology claims that it derives from a compound of the Hawaiian
Hawaiian language

The Hawaiian language is an Austronesian languages that takes its name from Hawaii , the largest island in the tropical North Pacific archipelago where it developed....
 words alo meaning "presence", "front", "face", or "share"; and ha, meaning "breath of life" or "essence of life." Although alo does indeed mean "presence" etc., the word for breath is spelled with a macron or kahako over the a (ha) whereas the word aloha does not have a long a.

Usage

Before contact with the West, the words used for greeting were welina and anoai. Today, "aloha kakahiaka" is the phrase for "good morning." "Aloha auinala" means "good afternoon" and "aloha ahiahi" means "good evening." "Aloha kakou" is a common form of "welcome to all."

In modern Hawaii, numerous businesses have aloha in their names, with more than 3 pages of listings in the Oahu phone book alone.

Trends

Recent trends are popularizing the term elsewhere in the United States. Popular entertainer, Broadway
Broadway theatre

Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 39 large professional theaters with 500 seats or more located in the Theatre District, New York in Manhattan, New York City....
 star and Hollywood actress Bette Midler
Bette Midler

Bette Midler is an American singing, actress and comedienne, also known as The Divine Miss M. During her career, she has won four Grammy Awards, four Golden Globes, three Emmy Awards, and a Tony Awards, and has been nominated for two Academy Awards....
, born in Honolulu, uses the greeting frequently in national appearances. The word was also used frequently in the hit television drama Hawaii Five-O
Hawaii Five-O

Hawaii Five-O is an United States television series that starred Jack Lord as Lead Detective for a fictional Hawaii state police department....
. In the influential 1982 film comedy Fast Times at Ridgemont High
Fast Times at Ridgemont High

Fast Times at Ridgemont High is a 1982 in film Cinema of the United States Coming of age teen film-comedy film written by Cameron Crowe and directed by Amy Heckerling....
, the eccentric teacher Mr. Hand makes use of the greeting. The Aloha Spirit is a major concept in Lilo and Stitch, a very popular Disney series of movies and TV shows, set in Hawaii. The drama series Lost
Lost (TV series)

Lost is an American Serial television program. It follows the lives of plane crash survivors on a mysterious tropical island, after a commercial Oceanic Flight 815 flying between Sydney, Australia and Los Angeles, United States crashes somewhere in the Oceania....
, shot in Hawaii, has a thank you note at the end of the credits saying "We thank the people of Hawaii and their Aloha Spirit". Aloha is a term also used in the Nickelodeon
Nickelodeon (TV channel)

Nickelodeon is an United States cable television network owned by Viacom International, founded in 1977 as Pinwheel. The Pinwheel name was used until 1981....
 program Rocket Power
Rocket Power

Rocket Power is an United States animated television series that aired from August 16, 1999 until July 30, 2004 on Nickelodeon . ...
.

Arguably the most famous historical Hawaiian song, "Aloha Oe
Aloha 'Oe

Aloha Oe is Liliuokalani most famous song and was inspired by a horseback trip she took in 1877 to the windward side of Oahu. After visiting the Boyd ranch in Maunawili, Liliuokalani witnessed a farewell embrace between Colonel James Boyd and one of the young ranch ladies....
" was written by the last queen of Hawaii, Liliuokalani.

The term inspired the name of the ALOHA Protocol
ALOHAnet

ALOHAnet, also known as ALOHA, was a pioneering computer networking system developed at the University of Hawaii. It was first deployed in 1970, and while the network itself is no longer used, one of the core concepts in the network is the basis for the widely used Ethernet....
 introduced in the 1970s by the University of Hawaii
University of Hawaii

The University of Hawaii System, formally the University of Hawaii and popularly known as UH, is a public, co-educational college and university system that confers associate, bachelor, master, doctoral and post-doctoral degrees through three university campuses, seven community college campuses, an employment training center, th...
.

See also

  • Aroha a Maori greeting meaning 'love'.
  • Namaste
    Namaste

    Namast?, Namaskar or Namaskaram is a common spoken greeting or salutation in the Indian subcontinent. Taken literally, it means "I bow to you"....
     has a similar meaning
  • Peace
    Peace

    Peace is a term that most commonly refers to an absence of aggression, violence or hostility, but which also represents a larger concept wherein there are healthy or newly-healed interpersonal relationship or international relations, safety in matters of social or economic welfare, the acknowledgment of equality and fairness in political re...
     has a similar meaning.
  • Salaam
    Salaam

    Salam may refer to:*the Arabic for "peace", see S-L-M** As-Salam is one of the 99 names of God in the Qur'an*As-Salamu Alaykum - a standard Islamic greeting...
     has a similar meaning.
  • Shalom
    Shalom

    File:Shalom gradient.pngShalom is a Hebrew language word meaning peace, completeness, and welfare and can be used idiomatically to mean both hello and goodbye....
     has a similar meaning.


External links