Talk:Aloha

Vandalism
This page has been receiving an ungodly amount of vandalism...In particular, "I love austin" --  Kanaka maoli i puuwai 05:35, 14 April 2007 (UTC)

Etymology
The etymology given here seems to be a folk etymology, and while, honestly, I think it's a rather pretty idea, it seems likely that there's a better explanation, as the Māori aroha appears to be a cognate, and also means 'love'. Anyone know what the Proto-Polynesian root might look like?

embryomystic 09:45, 19 May 2007 (UTC)


 * The root is arofa. I've corrected the section to reflect this. --86.137.156.17 (talk) 20:49, 1 January 2008 (UTC)

I think that claim of aloha coming from qalofa needs a citation. It's unsubstantiated and being that Polynesian languages were unwritten until the 19th century, academic references are warranted. Further, in Sāmoan, which predates both Hawaiian and Māori, malo and talofa are both used as a greeting/salutation, and alofa means "love". Aloha may have resulted as a contraction of a combination of two or all three of these words. This is as plausible but I don't feel justified editing the article for the same reason. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 209.59.96.35 (talk) 13:30, 12 June 2010 (UTC)
 * Reference added. There may well also be an online source I can add, and another one would be the ongoing series by Andrew Pawley et al on Oceanic etymology. Its not really correct to say that Samoan predates Maori and Hawaiian. Rather they are all descendants of one older language and it's not as if the ancestors of the Hawaiians and the Maori spoke nothing until they got to Hawaii and NZ. Talofa is alofa plus an initial particle by the way and although malo is used as a greeting its root meaning is different. Kahuroa (talk) 15:06, 12 June 2010 (UTC)
 * Mahalo Kahuroa! Makana Chai (talk) 17:56, 12 June 2010 (UTC)
 * Sweet as. Looks like I won't be able to google up an online reference to Proto-Polynesian *qalofa after all, but I did find one to a similar shaped word, *qao, which became ao (cloud) in Hawaiian, Maori and Samoan. If you are keen, scroll through this page and you will find it. Kahuroa (talk) 20:43, 12 June 2010 (UTC)

Hello and goodbye
Is it common to use the same word for hello and goodbye? Hungarians do this. Eg, szia. Is this discussed anywhere on Wikipedia? --Una Smith (talk) 07:25, 10 November 2008 (UTC)

Future Merge?
Shouldn't this be merged with Hello? Marioman798 (talk) 21:37, 14 April 2010 (UTC)
 * No. It is used as a greeting but means far more than hello.Makana Chai (talk) 22:30, 14 April 2010 (UTC)
 * And this article needs to talk about the meaning of the word that predates its use as a greeting. Kahuroa (talk) 05:15, 15 April 2010 (UTC)
 * Agreed! Mahalo. Makana Chai (talk) 05:43, 15 April 2010 (UTC)
 * I a au i Honolulu, kua rongo au i te aroha o te iwi o Hawai'i. Kahuroa (talk) 10:41, 15 April 2010 (UTC)

Really, it is nice to read about Bette Midler but if this page deserves to exist then it should describe the meaning of the word much better thanit does. Colin McLarty (talk) 23:22, 20 September 2013 (UTC)

Article has been stubbed
...and will be re-written using inline citations from reliable book sources.--Mark Miller (talk) 21:54, 31 July 2017 (UTC)

Pronunciation
The (Hawaiian) pronunciation of aloha is currently given as "[əˈlo.hə]", with two shwas. Though I'm no expert of this language, judging from what can be heard here: https://forvo.com/word/haw/aloha/, it seems rather to be [aˈlo.ha], with two [a]s. This is also the transcription given in the Wiktionary (for Hawaiian): see https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/aloha. But it's perhaps a more general question, of how to transcribe the Hawaiian a. At any rate, my poor ears don't hear two shwas in this word. ItalianainAlgeri (talk) 23:31, 5 October 2017 (UTC)
 * I think you're right. Schwa (with a c is perfectly alright by the way) is definitely not what I hear. Then again, I don't know that many Hawaiian natives. Richard 13:55, 6 October 2017 (UTC)
 * PS: see (hear) also this. The initial 'a' could be described as schwa, the final could not. Richard 13:57, 6 October 2017 (UTC)
 * As an editor of Native Hawaiian ancestry that grew up in Hawaii I can tell you how the word is commonly used, pronounced and its meaning but I still have to provide sources for any claim being made. For the record, the first "A" sound is pronounced like the "a" in "sofa". It is an "uh" sound.--Mark Miller (talk) 20:59, 29 April 2018 (UTC)
 * The most common pronunciation of the "A" is the "Ah" sound. The Hawaiian word for man is; "Kane" and is pronounced like Kahn with the "e" pronounced like; "Hey". The last "a" in "Aloha" is the "ah" sound". So it should be pronounced like: "Uh-low-Ha".--Mark Miller (talk) 21:06, 29 April 2018 (UTC)

Other meanings of the word
A BBC article says it has other meanings. Might be a good source of information to add.  D r e a m Focus  15:44, 2 May 2018 (UTC)
 * I'm not really sure if that article is 'scientifically sound' enough to serve as a source all by itself. Also, it focuses more on the concept 'Aloha Spirit' than on the word 'Aloha' itself. That does not mean there could not be a section on the Aloha Spirit, and the BBC article, along with the already mentioned article by Kenneth R. Conklin and maybe some of the existing citations, might be of use when writing such a section. Richard 06:23, 3 May 2018 (UTC)
 * As a travel article it has no real use here however, who and what the article touches on may be worth some research. There should be academic papers on this at the very least.--Mark Miller (talk) 05:34, 18 May 2018 (UTC)