Māori names, describing soils and whenua

Oneone means soil

Māori gardeners had at least 60 names for types of soil

Hen & chicken fern. Image: Bradley White

Over 100 traditional indigenous Māori names exist for soil; and most parts of the landscape are described in detail (Best 1925 Harmsworth & Roskruge 2014a,b; Roskruge 2020; Proctor & Harmsworth 2020), and with many descriptors (e.g. for degrees of wetness, stoniness, texture, colour).

Here are some examples of Māori soil names and an English description:

  • Oneone – general name for soil
  • One-pū – sand
  • One hunga – sea sand, sandy beach, sometimes mixed with mud
  • One-pārakiwai – silt
  • Parahua – silt
  • Paru, paruparu – mud, dark mud
  • Kere was used as a prefix for some types of clay, including keretū, onekeretū, kerematua, kerewhenua
  • Kōtore, pākeho – white clay
  • Keretū – heavy clay
  • Kere whenua – yellow clay
  • Kenepuru – sandy silt
  • Uku – unctuous clay, white or bluish clay
  • Uku whenua – plastic clay (old traditional name)
  • Ūkui – wash, wipe away
  • One-matua – typically loam
  • Oneware, onemata – dark fertile soil
  • One paraumu – very dark fertile soil, friable
  • Oneware – greasy soil
  • Onetakataka – a friable soil
  • Onewawata – a lumpy soil
  • Pūngorungoru – (soft spongy) A light, loose soil
  • Rei – Peat
  • Onekopuru – An organic soil found in wet situations
  • Pungapunga (also purupuru) – pumice soils
  • Pungarehu – ashes
  • Onekōkopu – Gravel or very gravelly soil
  • Tiapu, onetaipu – Fertile lands – especially sandy alluvial soils