Kōrero: Ideas in New Zealand

Comparing Māori and Sanskrit

Comparing Māori and Sanskrit

These two pages are from Edward Tregear's 1885 book The Aryan Maori. On the left Tregear compares Māori words with Sanskrit to show their similarity, and on the right he displays Māori signatures on the Treaty of Waitangi, suggesting that they contain elements of the Sanskrit swastika symbol. Tregear was drawing upon Max Müller's theory, originating in linguistics, that European people and culture had originally come from ancient India, the home of Sanskrit and the Aryan peoples. Tregear applied these concepts to New Zealand and suggested that while one branch of the Aryan people had moved west into Europe, another branch had moved east and eventually reached New Zealand as Māori.

Te whakamahi i tēnei tūemi

Te Ara - The Encyclopedia of New Zealand
Reference: Edward Tregear, The Aryan Maori. Wellington: George Didsbury, Government Printer, 1885, pp. 10, 96.

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Te tuhi tohutoro mō tēnei whārangi:

Jock Phillips, 'Ideas in New Zealand - Darwinism and anthropology', Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, http://www.TeAra.govt.nz/mi/document/45473/comparing-maori-and-sanskrit (accessed 29 March 2024)

He kōrero nā Jock Phillips, i tāngia i te 22 Oct 2014