Wehewehe Wikiwiki Hawaiian language dictionaries

1. n., The great bulrush (Scirpus validus 🌐, formerly called S. lacustris) that grows on the edge of fresh or brackish water marshes in Hawaiʻi. The plants have unbranched, slender, green stems, 1 to 3 m high, looking like giant onion plants. Formerly Hawaiians used them for house thatch or plaited them into mats for the lower layers of beds or for some temporary purposes, as the material is not durable.

• Examples:
  • ʻAi ʻakaʻakai, to eat bulrushes [fresh poi, which was not liked].
• Related:
  • S. californicus on Niʻihau.
• References:
  • Neal 88.

2. n., The common onion (Allium cepa 🌐); the tops look like those of the great bulrush.

• References:
  • Neal 198.

Perhaps akaakai. An ambiguous passage in For. 4:157: maluna o ka waʻa naku akaakai … kona waʻa akaakai, in the bulrush canoe … his bulrush canoe. (Reference is to a canoe bound for Kahiki to search for ʻOlopana. Thrum's note [For. 4:156] says that canoes were not made of bulrushes and thinks naku here is ‘to search’ [see naku #2]. An alternative interpretation of akaakai is akaaka, clear, + -i, transitivizer, which might also mean ‘search’ in the sense of clarification.)

See ilo ʻakaʻakai, lina, ʻoʻa.

Bulrush (Scirpus validus) that supplied material for thatch. (NEAL 88.)

Great bulrush (Scirpus validus). (NEAL 88.) See Plants: Uses.

Great bulrush (Scirpus validus), which grows on the edge of fresh- or brackish-water marshes. Formerly the natives used grass stems or kī leaves for house thatch or plaited them into mats for lower layers of hikieʻe (beds). They are used today to tie vegetables into bunches. (NEAL 88.)

Onion (Allium cepa), grown for its large bulbs; leek (A. porrum) with a small bulb; chive (A. shoenoprasum), used in Hawaiʻi for flavoring food; green onion (A. fistulosum), good for food. ʻAkaʻakai mahina, wild onion, the leaves of which are used to relieve a sore throat. ʻAkaʻakai pilau, garlic (A. sativum), which has a bulb divided into several cloves with a strong persistent odor. (NEAL 198.)