''Aloha'' ( , ) is the Hawaiian word for

love Love encompasses a range of strong and positive emotional and mental states, from the most sublime virtue or good habit, the deepest Interpersonal relationship, interpersonal affection, to the simplest pleasure. An example of this range of ...

, affection,

peace Peace is a concept of societal friendship and harmony in the absence of hostility and violence. In a social sense, peace is commonly used to mean a lack of conflict (such as war) and freedom from fear of violence between individuals or groups. ...

, compassion and mercy, that is commonly used as a simple greeting but has a deeper cultural and spiritual significance to native Hawaiians, for whom the term is used to define a force that holds together existence. The word is found in all Polynesian languages and always with the same basic meaning of "love, compassion, sympathy, kindness", although the use in Hawaii has a seriousness lacking in the Tahitian and Samoan meanings. Mary Kawena Pukui wrote that the "first expression" of ''aloha'' was between a parent and child. Lorrin Andrews wrote the first Hawaiian dictionary, called ''A Dictionary of the Hawaiian Language''. In it, he describes ''aloha'' as "A word expressing different feelings: love, affection, gratitude, kindness, pity, compassion, grief, the modern common salutation at meeting; parting". Mary Kawena Pukui and Samuel Hoyt Elbert's ''Hawaiian Dictionary: Hawaiian-English, English-Hawaiian'' also contains a similar definition. Anthropologist Francis Newton states that "Aloha is a complex and profound sentiment. Such emotions defy definition". Anna Wierzbicka concludes that the term has "no equivalent in English". The state of Hawaii introduced the Aloha Spirit law in 1986, which mandates that state officials and judges treat the public with Aloha.

Etymology

''Aloha'' was borrowed from the Hawaiian ''aloha'' to English language. The Hawaiian word has evolved from the Proto-Polynesian greeting '' *qarofa,'' which also meant "love, pity, or compassion". It is further thought to be evolved from

Proto-Oceanic Proto-Oceanic (abbr. ''POc'') is a proto-language that historical linguists since Otto Dempwolff have reconstructed as the hypothetical common ancestor of the Oceanic subgroup of the Austronesian language family. Proto-Oceanic is a descendant ...

root ''*qarop(-i)'' meaning "feel pity, empathy, be sorry for", which in turn descends from

Proto-Malayo-Polynesian Proto-Malayo-Polynesian (PMP) is the reconstructed ancestor of the Malayo-Polynesian languages, which is by far the largest branch (by current speakers) of the Austronesian language family. Proto-Malayo-Polynesian is ancestral to all Austronesi ...

''*harep.''Ross Clark and Simon J. Greenhill, editors (2011), �
QAROFA (A)
��, in POLLEX-Online: The Polynesian Lexicon Project Online ''Aloha'' has numerous cognates in other Polynesian languages, such as '' talofa'' in Samoan, ''ta'alofa'' in Tuvaluan, and '' aro'a'' in Cook Islands Māori. Māori given name Aroha is also descended from the Proto-Polynesian root.

References

{{reflist Hawaiiana Hawaiian words and phrases Greeting words and phrases Parting phrases

Etymology

See also

References