mana

n.

a Maori word for power, influence,right, authority, prestige. See chapter on Mana,in `Old New Zealand' (1863), by Judge Maning.

1843. E. Dieffenbach, `Travels in New Zealand,' vol. i.p. 371:

« Mana – – command, authority, power.»

1855. Rev. R. Taylor, `Te Ika a Maui,' p. 279:

«The natives feel that with the land their `mana,' or power,has gone likewise; few therefore can now be induced to partwith land.»

1863. F. E. Maning (Pakeha Maori), `Old New Zealand,' Intro.p. iii:

«The Maoris of my tribe used to come and ask me which had thegreatest `mana' (i.e. fortune, prestige, power, strength),the Protestant God or the Romanist one.»

1873. `Appendix to Journal of House of Representatives,'G. i, B. p. 8:

«The Government should be asked to recognize his manaover that territory.»

1881. J. L.Campbell, `Poenamo,' p. 166:

«We should be glad to shelter ourselves under the mana – – the protection – – of good old Kanini.»

1892. `Otago Witness,' Dec 22, p. 7, col. 1:

«A man of great lineage whose personal mana was undisputed.»

1896. `New Zealand Herald,' Feb. 14 [Leading Article]:

«The word `mana,' power, or influence, may be said to beclassical, as there were learned discussions about its precisemeaning in the early dispatches and State papers. It may besaid that misunderstanding about what mana meant causedthe war at Taranaki.»