What does the Hawai'ian word 'aumakua' mean in English?

Answer 1

The Ulukau on-line Hawai'ian to English Dictionary suggests 3 principal meanings:

"1. nvt. Family or personal gods, deified ancestors who might assume the shape of sharks (all islands except Kauaʻi), owls (as at Mānoa, O'ahu and Kaʻū and Puna, Hawaiʻi), hawks (Hawaiʻi), ʻelepaio, ʻiwi, mudhens, octopuses, eels, mice, rats, dogs, caterpillars, rocks, cowries, clouds, or plants. A symbiotic relationship existed; mortals did not harm or eat ʻaumākua (they fed sharks), and ʻaumākua warned and reprimanded mortals in dreams, visions, and calls. (Beckwith, 1970, pp. 124-43, 559; Nānā 38.) Fig.., a trustworthy person. (Probably lit.., ʻau 4, group, + makua, parent.) See pulapula 2. hō.ʻau.makua To acquire or contact ʻaumākua.

"2. vt. To offer grace to ʻaumākua before eating; to bless in the name of ʻaumākua. ʻAuhea ʻoe, ē ke kanaka o ke akua, eia kā kāua wahi ʻai, ua loaʻa maila mai ka pō mai ka pō mai; no laila nāu e ʻaumakua mai i ka ʻai a kāua (prayer), hearken, O man who serves the god, here is food for you [lit.., our food], received from the night, so bless our food in the name of the ʻaumakua.

"3. vt. To ask someone to hula; the request was not refused without giving the caller a lei or flower. ʻAumakua iā Kamuela, Samuel must dance!"

The Hawai'ian language is not only highly contextual (meaning words will take on different meanings depending on what the intention or action is, as definition #3 suggests) but also compound (meaning any given word may be made up of two or more words that, taken together, produce an entirely separate meaning that from a standpoint of Hawai'ian linguistic logic is a connotation of the compounded words - note the "Prob lit." explanation at the end of #1 showing the word is probably a compounding of the word 'au and the word makua -- even the symbol ' ahead of au has significance).