Did the first Europeans arrive in New Zealand as mythical goblins?
The term Pākehā is often misunderstood as a slur, but its origins may lie in a supernatural encounter. When European sailors first rowed toward the shore, facing backward in their longboats, Māori elders witnessed something that looked less like men and more like legendary, fair-skinned beings.
The etymology of Pākehā is a subject of historical debate, but many scholars point to the Māori words 'pākehakeha' or 'pakepakehā'. These terms refer to an oral tradition of mythical, human-like beings with fair skin and hair who traveled in magical reed canoes. This connection likely stems from the first encounters with Europeans. Because European sailors rowed their longboats toward the shore facing backward, Māori elders observed them and remarked that they must be goblins with eyes in the backs of their heads.
While some modern claims suggest the word is a derogatory combination of 'poaka' (pig) and 'keha' (flea), there is no etymological support for this. Linguists note that Māori is a conservative language regarding vowels, making such a derivation highly unlikely. Furthermore, the word for flea is 'puruhi', and the word 'poaka' is not even native to New Zealand, as pigs were not brought to the islands by Polynesian settlers.
Historically, the term has been used descriptively. In 1814, missionary William Hall was referred to by Māori as a 'great Gentleman white man' using the term. By 1831, Māori leaders used 'Pākehā' specifically to mean 'British European' in a letter to King William IV. While some people today find the term offensive or feel it implies they are outsiders, large-scale studies in 2009 and 2013 found no evidence that the word is widely considered derogatory. Instead, it remains a significant part of the New Zealand linguistic landscape, even used to describe the English language as 'reo Pākehā'.
Source: Pākehā
