a New Zealand word for devil, oftenapplied by settlers to a vicious horse or as a name for a dog.There is a dangerous river, the Taipo, on the west coast.There is considerable dispute as to whether the word is trueMaori or not. The Rev. T. G. Hammond of Patea says – – «No such Maori word as taipo, meaning devil, exists. It wouldmean evening-tide – – tai-po. Probably the early sailorsintroduced attached meaning of devil from the Maori saying,`Are you not afraid to travel at night?' referring to thedanger of tidal rivers.»
On the other hand, Mr. Tregear says, in his `Maori Comparative Dictionary,' s.v. – –
«Taepo, a goblin, a spectre. Cf. tae, to arrive; po, night.»
The Rev. W. Colenso says, in his pamphlet on `Nomenclature'(1883), p. 5:
«Taepo means to visit or come by night, – – a night visitant, – – aspectral thing seen in dreams, – – a fancied and feared thing, orhobgoblin, of the night or darkness; and this the settlers haveconstrued to mean the Devil! – – and of course their own orthodoxone.»
Taipo or taepo is also a slang term for asurveyor's theodolite among the Maoris, because it is the «land-stealing devil.»
1848. Rev. R. Taylor, `Leaf from the Natural History of NewZealand,' p. 43:
«Taipo, female dreamer; a prophetess; an evil spirit.»
1855. Rev. R. Taylor, `Te Ika a Maui,' p. 49:
«There is the Taringa-here, a being with a face likea cat; and likewise another, called a Taipo, who comesin the night, sits on the tops of houses, and converses withthe inmates, but if a woman presumes to open her mouth,it immediately disappears.»
1878. B. Wells, `History of Taranaki,' p. 3:
«The similarity in sound and meaning of the Egyptian word typhon with that of the Maori taipo, both beingthe name of the Spirit of Evil, is also not a littleremarkable.»
[Ingenious, but worthless.]
1886. T. H. Potts, `Out in the Open,' `New Zealand Countryjournal,' vol. x. p. 262:
«His wife became seriously affected, declaring that Taipo had entered into her. Reasoning was whollyuseless. She declared that Taipo was in the smoke of the wood,which smoke she had inhaled; soon she became prostrated byillness and was expected to die.»
1887. J. C. Crawford, `Travels in New Zealand andAustralia,' p. 107:
«After dinner Watkins requested the loan of a tomahawkto defend himself on going up to the Pa on the hill above.He said he knew that there was a taipo (devil) about;he felt it in his head.»
1888. P. W. Barlow, `Kaipara,' p. 48:
«They were making the noises I heard to drive away the `Taipo,'a sort of devil who devotes his attention exclusively toMaoris, over whom, however, he only possesses power at night.»
1891. W. H. Roberts, `Southland in 1856,' p. 72:
«They believed it was the principal rendez-vous of the fallenangel (Taipo) himself.»
1896. Modern. Private Letter (May):
« Taipo, for instance, of course one knows its meaning,though it has been adopted chiefly as a name as common as`Dash' or `Nero' for New Zealand dogs; all the same the writersupon Maori superstitions seem to have no knowledge of it.Polach, Dieffenbach, Nicholas, Yates, call their evil spirits whiros or atuas. Tepo, the place of darkness, isthe nearest they have come to it. I think myself it is SouthIsland Maori, often differing a little in spelling and use; andso very much the larger proportion of New Zealand literature isthe literature of the North.»