Today I was reviewing a draft cultural impact assessment for Pelekunu valley, and the song "Nā Makani ʻEhā" was cited for its Pelekunu verse, printed as:
He wahine ʻoe no Pelekunu mai
You are a woman from Pelekunu Valley
He nani maoli nō
A beautiful local girl
Ka heke no ʻoe i ka ʻike la
Your unsurpassed beauty is seen
He wehi no kuʻu nui kino
An adornment for my body
Hoʻi mai au iʻa nei
I am returning here
Ka uluwehi o ke Koʻolau
The lushness of the mountains
Me ka lei
The lei
I ka makani Puʻupilo
The wind named Puʻupilo
it was attributed to "Kamakahi, n.d."
But I was thinking that there was little chance that that set of lyrics and translations was what the Right Reverend Dennis Kamakahi was singing, so I did a quick google search and saw immediately that the preparers went straight to Huapala.org and pulled the verse and translation verbatim from it. Only on huapala.org would you find "nani maoli nō" translated as "beautiful local girl."
But try as I might, I could find no other web translation of the song that wasnʻt obviously derived from huapala.org. So I went to listen to the song again.
This is what I thought I heard:
He wahine ʻoe no Pelekunu mai
Youʻre a woman from Pelekunu
he nani maoli nō
a true beauty indeed
ʻO ka heke nō ʻoe i kaʻu ʻike la
Youʻre the best in my experience
He wehi no kuʻu nui kino
An adornment for my entire body
Hoʻi mai au i ʻaneʻi
I return here
i ka uluwehi o ke Koʻolau
to the lush verdure of the Windward side
Me ka lei i ka makani Puʻupilo
with the lei in the Puʻupilo wind
Maybe the differences are too small to sweat over, but it struck me that when Hawaiian language sources of any kind are assembled for a cultural assessment, it would help a great deal if the assemblers had some basic understanding of what they were compiling, rather than merely pulling material together, flawed to greater or lesser extent.
OK, Iʻll stop there...
ʻOhu
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