The word banua or vanua (the latter from various languages of Melanesia, see below) – meaning "land," "home," or "village" – occurs in several Austronesian languages. It derives from the Proto-Austronesian reconstructed form *banua.[1][2][3] The word has particular significance in several countries.

In Western Malayo-Polynesian languages

Philippines

Kapampangan

In the Kapampangan language, banwa or banua means "sky" or "year".

Visayan

In the Hiligaynon Visayan language, banwa means "people", "nation" or "country."

Malaysia and Indonesia

Malay

In the Malay language (the lingua franca of both Malaysia and Indonesia), benua means "landmass" or "continent". The word for "land" in these languages and nearby Austronesian languages — e.g., in Tana Toraja, Tana Tidung or Tanö Niha – are tanah or tana.[4]

Banjar

In the Banjar language, banua means "village" or "homeland".

Old Javanese

In the Old Javanese language, wanwa or wanua means "village", "inhabited place" or "settlement".

Buginese

In the Buginese language, banua means "village", "country", "land" or "homeland".

Toraja

In the Toraja language, banua means "home".

Old Sundanese

In the Old Sundanese language, banua or buana means "continent" or "world".

Minahasa

In all Minahasan languages, wanua means "village", "country", or "land". The word Kawanua means land of the Minahasan people.

Dayak

In Iban (used by the Dayak people), menua or menoa means "place", "country", "land" or "homeland". In many other Dayak languages, the word has the form binua.

In Oceania

In some Oceanic languages of Melanesia, the root *banua has sometimes become vanua, via Proto-Oceanic *panua.

In Papua New Guinea

In Motu, the word hanua means "village". The name of a village near Port Moresby is called Hanuabada, meaning "big village". In Uneapa, the word vanua means "island".

In Palau

In Palauan, which is a non-Oceanic Austronesian language, beluu means "village" or "country", as can be seen in the native name of the country, Beluu er a Belau.

In Vanuatu

In Vanuatu, vanua also means "land", "island" or "home."[5] The name of the Vanua'aku Pati literally means "The party of My Land". Hence also the name of Vanuatu itself, and the place name Vanua Lava (literally ‘big island’ in Mota language).

Lo-Toga

In the Lo-Toga language, the word venie means "village", "island" or "country".[6]

Mwotlap

In Mwotlap, the word vōnō means "village", "district", "island" or "country".[7]

In Fiji

In Fijian and in Fiji English, vanua is an essential concept of indigenous Fijian culture and society. It is generally translated in English as "land", but vanua as a concept encompasses a number of inter-related meanings. When speaking in English, Fijians may use the word vanua rather than an imprecise English equivalent. According to Fijian academic Asesela Ravuvu, a correct translation would be "land, people and custom". Vanua means "the land area one is identified with", but also

"the people, their traditions and customs, beliefs and values, and the various other institutions established for the sake of achieving harmony, solidarity and prosperity within a particular social context. [...] It provides a sense of identity and belonging. [...] The vanua [...] is an extension of the concept of the self."[8]

An indigenous Fijian person is thus defined through his or her land; the concepts of personhood and land ownership are viewed as inseparable. This is also the case for other indigenous peoples of Oceania, such as Australian Aboriginals (see: Dreaming) and New Zealand Māori (see: iwi).

A vanua is also a confederation of several yavusa ("clans" established through descent from a common ancestor). A vanua in this sense is associated with its ownership of an area of vanua in the sense of "land"; the various meanings of vanua are, here too, interrelated.[9][10]

The word vanua is found in the place names Vanua Levu and Vanua Balavu.

Indigenous land ownership is a key issue in conservative and indigenous nationalistic Fijian politics. Several right-wing, essentially indigenous parties refer to vanua in their names:

Polynesian languages

Māori

In Māori language, whenua means homeland or country. The Māori people call themselves Tāngata whenua, or people of the land.

Tongan

In Tongan, fonua[11] means land or country.

Hawaiian

In Hawaiian honua means land, earth, or foundation, and is usually used in the more literal sense.[12] Land in the more figurative or spiritual sense is usually represented by the word ʻāina, and locally-born people are referred to as kamaʻāina (child of the land).[13]

Other Polynesian languages

Elsewhere, the form of the word is generally fenua.

See also

References

  1. ↑ Entry *banua — Robert Blust. 2010. Austronesian Comparative Dictionary (ACD). Honolulu: University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa.
  2. ↑ Thomas Anton Reuter, Custodians of the Sacred Mountains: Culture and Society in the Highlands of Bali, University of Hawaii Press, 2002, p.29
  3. ↑ Thomas Anton Reuter, Sharing the Earth, Dividing the Land: Land and Territory in the Austronesian World, ANU E Press, 2006, p. 326.
  4. ↑ From PAN *taneq ‘earth, soil, land’. — Robert Blust. 2010. Austronesian Comparative Dictionary (ACD). Honolulu: University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa.
  5. ↑ Sabine C. Hess, Person and Place: Ideas, Ideals and the Practice of Sociality on Vanua Lava, Vanuatu, Berghahn Books, 2009, p. 115.
  6. ↑ Entry venie — A. François, 2021, Lo-Toga – English online dictionary. Paris.
  7. ↑ Entry v[ō]nō — A. François, 2021, A Mwotlap–English–French cultural dictionary. Paris.
  8. ↑ Asesela Ravuvu, 1983, quoted in: Stephanie Sienkiewicz, "Ethnic relations in Fiji: Peaceful coexistence and the recent shift in the ethnic balance", Union College Department of Anthropology, June 2000
  9. ↑ Sienkiewicz, ibid
  10. ↑ Fiji Native Land Trust Board glossary
  11. ↑ Fonua in Tongan Cosmology, Chapter 15. People and Place in Tonga: The Social Construction of Fonua in Oceania.
  12. ↑ Nā Puke Wehewehe ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi honua.
  13. ↑ Nā Puke Wehewehe ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi kamaʻāina.
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