Origin of Polynesians

It seems there is now proof that Polyniesians really are Taiwanese in disguise.

Interesting stuff…

[url=http://tw.forumosa.com/t/gene-study-suggests-polynesians-came-from-taiwan/19370/1 study suggests Polynesians came from Taiwan[/url]

I just checked the other thread. I had clicked or thought about ‘Guns, Germs and Steel’ as well.

Good read and needs combining with Bill Brysons 'Short History of Nearly Everything" then you can be a real smart arse if your memory works.

There was a great news item on TV in New Zealand the other night about how scientists have recently proven that Maori ancestors originally cam from Taiwan, specifically one tribe on the East coast…

This was pretty stunning… I’d had a few aboriginal friends in Taiwan and seen a few people on visits to villages that looked distinctly ‘maori’… seems now that there is definitely a link there.

Seems they found common gene for alcohol resistance that proves the fact…

Thy also had a clip of some aboriginal fishermen doing what seemed to look exactly like a Haka!!!

They did some speech comparisons and numbers were all remarkably similar…

Cheers!

Daryl

I took a few Asian studies courses in college, and my professor discussed this interesting theory. He stressed that it was still just a theory, but he seemed to believe it was very likely. You have to remember that the Taiwanese aborignes must have come from the mainland at some point, but most likely a long, long time ago.

Take the name of the Wanhua District: Those characters were chosen by the Japanese (who pronounce it “Banka”), taken from the older Chinese name “Mengjia” (pronounced “Bangka”) in Taiwanese. That in turn came from the aboriginal name Bangka, meaning “outrigger canoe”.

What are outrigger canoes called in the Philippines (Tagalog)? Yes, Banca or Bangka. In Maori? Waka. In Hawaiian? Wa’a.

It’s the same word. Amazing!

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It seems, based on the latest DNA evidence that this might be a bit more than a theory… of course we’ll never know for 100% sure…

But its nice to know there is a link there between me, my maori roots, my taiwanese wife, and her roots…

Cheers!

Daryl

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The thing that gets me about this is that there was something in the news - at least in New Zealand - about all this about three years ago. Winston Peters (big name, nosy, and frequently xenophobic politician who loves trying to break the big stories) even spoke in parliament about it. Granted, he got mocked to shit for it, but I’d love to know if this study is what he was talking about, and what happened in the intervening years…

Then how come the late Marlon Brando never came for mountain “booty calls” in Taiwan?

I’m fairly certain this genetic study is mentioned in the book ‘Formosan Odyssey’ which a forumosan wrote and published a few years ago. I have a copy somewhere.

I always suspected a link between the Taiwanese phrase ‘ki nay ra’(my own romanisation) and the Maori ‘enoho ra’. Sure one is hurry up and the other is stand up.

Actually enoho is “sit down”. Etu is “stand up”. Just being helpful :laughing:

Back to the topic - I have to ask, does this actually come as any surprise to any Kiwis or Polynesians here? I know I for one was struck immediately by the physical similarity between some of the more strongly Aboriginal… Aborigines here and Maori. Like the Maori guy they brought over here for the story mentioned above (which I got to see on TV myself) said, a lot of them could pass unnoticed on the East Coast…

Woops, it has been a very long time since my Maori lessons in primary school. I still see it being connection-wise similar to aroha and aloha though.

You’re right, Tetsuo, the study results don’t come as a shock. I found myself feeling nearly right at home when I noticed the similarities and was living in small town Taiwan. I had zero Chinese ability and thought because of their appearance I may be able to talk to them in English. No such luck though.

[quote=“daryl_ks”]

But its nice to know there is a link there between me, my maori roots, my Taiwanese wife, and her roots…

Cheers!

Daryl[/quote]Yeah, it is nice for a couple to know where each other have been. nudge, nudge wink

settle down…

Noticed the similarities right away when coming to Taiwan… On top of that they cook sweet potatoes in a very similar way to a hangi… hot stones in the ground and such.

Cheers!

[quote=“Matchstick_man”]Woops, it has been a very long time since my Maori lessons in primary school. I still see it being connection-wise similar to aroha and aloha though.

You’re right, Tetsuo, the study results don’t come as a shock. I found myself feeling nearly right at home when I noticed the similarities and was living in small town Taiwan. I had zero Chinese ability and thought because of their appearance I may be able to talk to them in English. No such luck though.[/quote]

sry but re. hurry up… bollocks…dont confuse taiwanese language with aboriginal languages…there is absolutely no connection…kin a la is pure chinese dialect…

actually i’m a kiwi too and excited to see this connection being publicised (its been a theory for years)…but please don’t use it to connect min nan (fujian descended) people with the maori…having said that there is a great deal of aboriginal blood in mainstream taiwanese (often unattributed) so it is fair to say some of the population have a real (though tenuous) connection to the maori…so long as they admit the aboriginal blood before claiming it

[quote=“the bear”][quote=“Matchstick_man”]Woops, it has been a very long time since my Maori lessons in primary school. I still see it being connection-wise similar to aroha and aloha though.

You’re right, Tetsuo, the study results don’t come as a shock. I found myself feeling nearly right at home when I noticed the similarities and was living in small town Taiwan. I had zero Chinese ability and thought because of their appearance I may be able to talk to them in English. No such luck though.[/quote]

sry but re. hurry up… bollocks…dont confuse Taiwanese language with aboriginal languages…there is absolutely no connection…kin a la is pure Chinese dialect…

but please don’t use it to connect min nan (fujian descended) people with the maori…[/quote]
I see no indication in the previous posts that Minnan is being confused with the aboriginal languages…

Thanks Bear, I was thinking the same thing. Taiwanese != Aboriginal. Although there are most likely a fair few Aboriginal words from various languages that have entered Taiwanese, you can’t really draw any parallels without being certain of the etymology of the Taiwanese word in question.

actually i’d be very interested to know if there are aboriginal words in use in everyday taiwanese…i’ve never been aware of any but then what do i know…certainly as us kiwis know there is a fair smattering of maori in use in everyday english…i can’t help but think it wouldn’t be the case here but maybe we have an ethnolinguist in our midst that can enlighten us…

ps to chris…my point was that kin - a -la is purely chinese dialect…i think the chinese word is jin as in jin kuai…but i could be wrong

nationmaster.com/encyclopedi … -languages

a little bit on linguistic context of the idea…

Cheers!

Daryl

[quote=“daryl_ks”]http://www.nationmaster.com/encyclopedia/Austronesian-languages

a little bit on linguistic context of the idea…

Cheers!

Daryl[/quote]

amazing that for such a huge language group (incl. tagalog, malay and javan) 9 of the 10 subgroups are aboriginal languages of taiwan.