Talk:Lake Ruataniwha

Untitled
Fixed up some incorrect info regards the rowing connection and Man Made Hill - I was there at the time so I'm fairly sure that I'm right :-)--Snori 03:52, 2 November 2005 (UTC)
 * Probably worth getting a proper reference on this. It's not that the lake wasn't planned, per se, but that it was built before the plan had been approved. Or at least that's my understanding, which is supported by at least one dubious interweb reference and an acquaintance who was there.Limegreen 21:22, 2 November 2005 (UTC)

Name
The lake is named after Ruataniwha Station, there seems to be no question about that, but where did that name come from?
 * The Maori name for Ben Ohau
 * Seems pretty likely - it's the dominant peak in the area.


 * This peak was named for "...a Maori chief who was drowned when the canoe Arai-te-uru sank near Moeraki in the 12th century..." Sheridan, Page 309, and, and
 * So, all is clear?
 * Except that other suggestions also exist:


 * Allegorically for two strong brothers
 * A placename: "den or pit of the taniwha" "History of a Great River", by Nick Karaitiana"
 * The least likely is simply that "...in Maori the name means two monsters". While this seems credible because everyone learns both rua/two and taniwha/water-monster at school - in fact none of the credible sources here give that meaning.Snori (talk) 16:38, 14 December 2010 (UTC)

Yes, good analysis. Rua is two, but it is also a hole, a pit. Here in connexion with the taniwha, it's most certainly the burrough, the pit, because a taniwha lives underwater... bside there cannot be two taniwhas in the same place. Now it doesn't look like a chief name, and this name is not listed in the crew of the said waka, see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C4%80raiteuru Stefjourdan — Preceding unsigned comment added by 125.236.193.5 (talk) 07:42, 5 March 2017 (UTC)

Distinguish from Ruataniwha Water Storage Scheme?
Is it worth distinguishing this article from the one on Ruataniwha Water Storage Scheme? Johnragla (talk) 19:00, 14 January 2018 (UTC)