I once read in a travel guide that the Samoan language is like the French of the Pacific. Apparently, French is known to be a beautiful, romantic sounding language and Samoan has a similar, sexy, musical quality. I don’t disagree – lots of our words just sound so pretty…. but I think what makes the Samoan language especially stunning is how poetically our words capture meaning.
For example, agamālū is how we’d describe a sweet, gentle personality, but the word literally translates as: aga = characteristic, mālū = cool, as in the opposite of hot. If you spent long afternoons in hot and humid Samoa, how much would you welcome a cool breeze? That’s the feeling I get when I hear about someone with a personality that is agamālū.
A word with a great meaning that also sounds pretty, or formidable or wise, etc., also makes a great name for a baby (or a business or a project). The Samoan language has so many of these amazing words and phrases – and a lot of them are not on Google Translate yet! Let’s have a look at some of my favourites, starting with the name of this website.
Why Anava Samoana?
1. Anava [ʔɑ’nɑːvɑ]
Anava is the name of an ancient Samoan weapon that was used more for ceremonial victory marches than in battle. These weapons looked similar to nifo’oti – a ‘toothed’ war club – except they were more ornate… like a sceptre that a European monarch might carry. Anava were kept by families and passed down generations as heirlooms, much like a family Bible.
When I first heard the word anava, I had no idea it was a weapon. I learned it as part of the phrase anava tau, which my cousin – the main talking chief in our family – suggested as a name for a project I was working on.
He told me:
Anava tau refers to the spiritual strength that a warrior can draw on in order to fight a battle.
I loved it.
But for a long while, I never heard anyone else use this phrase… it’s definitely not common in everyday Samoan. I began to wonder if maybe my very intelligent cousin came up with it himself…?
Finally, one morning I was listening to Samoan radio and I heard it – anava tau!
The radio announcer was talking about a political debate and he was taking one party’s side. He listed a few reasons his party was correct, and then he said something that translates roughly to:
This is our anava tau that we must take to parliament in order to win this debate.
So my cousin was right (of course – I never doubted it).
Poetically, anava tau borrows the imagery of the anava weapon and adds the word tau, which means war, to refer to a great fervor or zeal – a fighting spirit. The phrase can also be used to mean a declaration, or an agenda… a strong sense of purpose.
It is with this interpretation in mind that I named this website and network Anava Samoana.
Samoana refers to all things Samoan. Anava Samoana is about using our warrior spirit to achieve our purpose, which is to help Samoans all over the world incorporate more of the Samoan language and culture into our everyday lives.
You like?
Beautiful Samoan Words That Refer to Beauty
Often, words that refer to beauty are also very pretty. The words that I’ve chosen for this section are related to the general idea of beauty, but they have much more specific (and beautiful) meanings.
2. Matagōfie [mɑːtɑŋo’fie]
If you break down this word, mata means eye and gofie is also a fragment of the word faigofie, which means easy. I don’t know if this was intentional, but every time I hear the word matagōfie, I think of something that’s easy on the eyes :). The word is often used to describe something that is not just beautiful, but also grand… important.
3. Matalasi [mɑtɑ’lɑːsi]
Samoa Matalasi is a classic Samoan ballad that describes many of the pride-worthy wonders of Samoa, and this song is often translated to mean ‘Beautiful Samoa.’ That’s probably only because tranlsators couldn’t find the English word that conveys the exact meaning of matalasi. Consider this sentence:
Ma’eu le matalasi o foafoaga a le Ali’i.
This means, ‘Wondrous is the diversity of God’s creations,’ because He created so many kinds of stones and crystals, so many types of plants and fauna, so many different animals, so many varieties of… everything.
Matalasi refers to this variety, varietation, diversity… which does indeed help to make Samoa so beautiful.
4. Tausala [tau’sɑːlɑ]
If you check Google Translate and tausala still comes up as meaning ‘guilty’ it’s because Google infers translations from all the documents it can find online, and in some scriptural texts, the word ‘accusation’ has been translated as tausala.
Why? Tau (from the word taumafai) can mean to attempt or to try, and fa’asala means to punish. Get it? ‘Try to punish’ could be another way of saying ‘accuse’.
ANYWAY, ‘guitly’ is probably a valid translation, but nobody’s told Google yet that most Samoans use the word tausala to refer to a beautiful girl…and that’s because the name Tausala has been given to lots of beauty pageants and a type of Samoan fundraising activity that involves dancing for money (in a wholesome, family sort of way).
The real meaning of tausala, however, is a little more specific. In our family leadership structures, we have high chiefs (matai ali’i) and talking chiefs (tulafale) and various other chiefs, who are traditionally men.
The highest ranking female in this structure is our taupou. She holds the same status as our matai ali’i, and after the bestowal of her title, we refer to her as a tausala – a titled woman – of our village.
These days, more women receive ali’i and tulafale titles as well. I’d assume that women with any kind of chiefly title should also, rightfully be known as tausala.
Beautiful Samoan Words that refer to Power
Technially, tausala also refers to power because of the authority that a titled women has (another reason to love that word). Words that more immediately conjure the image of strength and power include:
5. Toa [‘toɑ]
I feel like this word got extra popular after Jewel and Vaniah Toloa released this gorgeous tribute to the Manu Samoa rugby team, O oe o le Toa.
The song compares the team to soldiers about to go into battle, and indeed, toa means warrior or hero, but it also refers to other words related to a masculine type of strength.
Toa is the Samoan word for ironwood, and according to Wikipedia:
Ironwood is a common name for many woods or plants that have a reputation for hardness or. . .a wood density that is heavier than water…
Toa is also what Samoans call the male chicken, or rooster.
As an adjective, toa can mean valiant or bold, as in loto toa, which means be bold (of spirit).
6. Mamana [mɑ’mɑːnɑ]
One word that truly fascinates me is mana, which, in Samoan, means power… but not just any kind. When we talk about mana, we’re usually referring to a divine power, the kind that grows trees, moves the ocean and sparks life. When we’re faced with a challenge, we can call on mana from the heavens, draw on the mana of our ancestors or be filled with mana from deep within our souls.
What fascinates me most is that mana – with this exact same meaning – appears in languages all over the Pacific… and someday, I would like to figure out why.
In the meantime, while mana is a great word, because it belongs to so many cultures, I hear it everywhere. It’s become a little over-used. But mamana, its adjective form, is less common and, to me, just sounds more Samoan.
My mother says that in her experience, mamana – or powerful – is most often used to describe God, as in the sentence:
E mamana ana upu
…which means, ‘His words are powerful.’
Beautiful Samoan Words that Come from Nature
I think every language saves some of its prettiest sounding words to describe the beauty found in nature. My favourites are the Samoan ones :).
7. Vaito’a [vai’toːʔa]
Vai is the Samoan word for water and to’a – with a glottal stop between its vowel sounds – means calm… still… or even, frozen. Vaito’a can refer to a body of still water, like a lake or a pond, but it can also mean ice.
A verse in Job asks, “From whose womb comes the ice? Who gives birth to the frost from the heavens? (Job 38:29)
Bible.com translated this verse into Samoan as:
E sau ‘ea le vaito‘a mai le manava o ai? O le sauto‘a fo‘i mai le lagi o ai ‘ea na na fānaua?
Vaito’a is used to mean ice in this verse… which also features another beautiful, related word.
8. Sauto’a [sau’toːʔa]
In this context, sau is the Samoan word for dew, like the stuff that makes the grass wet in the mornings. With to’a meaning still, or ice, sauto’a is how the translator of this Bible verse has chosen to say frost in Samoan.
I love it.
9. Māsina [mɑː’siːnɑ]
Masina is a fairly common Samoan name – for girls and boys – for good reason. Masina is the Samoan word for moon (and also, month), and after a long hot day, many villagers in Samoa look forward to evaga (hanging out) outside on a cool, moonlit night.
If I were going to use Masina as a baby name, I would adorn it with a bit more poetry:
Le Pō Māsina = the Moonlit Night
I’d put the three words together to make one name, Lepōmāsina [le’poːmaː’sina], and for short, I’d call my male child Pō and a female child Sina.
🙂 <– me being proud of myself.
My Receipts
I am a student of linguistics who’s a little bit obsessed with the semantics and pragmatics of the Samoan language.
This post is a product of several conversations with my mother, who used to run a Samoan language newspaper and is currently a professional Samoan translator, plus a trio of Samoan-born cousins. One of these cousins is currently serving as the main tulafale in our family, and it was he who first introduced me to the phrase anava tau.
I also used the following resources to check facts and dig up a little more information about some of my favourite Samoan words:
Nifo’oti (cane knife) | Collections, Te Papa Museum
A Grammar and Dictionary of the Samoan Language, by George Pratt
