Maori word for a chief,male or female; a master or mistress (Williams);therefore an aristocrat, a person of the gentle class,distinguished from a tau-rikarika, a nobody,a slave.
1820. `Grammar and Vocabulary of Language of New Zealand'(Church Missionary Society), p. 200:
«Ranga tira, a gentleman or lady.»
1845. E. J. Wakefield, `Adventures in New Zealand,'c. i. p. 173:
«I took care to tell them that the rangatira, or `chief'missionaries, would come out with the settlers.»
Ibid. c. ii. p. 461:
«Rangatira is Maori for `chief,' and Rangatira-tango istherefore truly rendered `chieftainship.'»
1893. `Otago Witness, `Dec. 21, p. 11:
«Te Kooti is at Puketapu with many Rangatiras; he is a greatwarrior, – – a fighting chief. They say he has beaten the pakehas» (q.v.).