Wehewehe Wikiwiki Hawaiian language dictionaries

1. nvi., Sin, vice, offense, fault, error; to sin (Kan. 9.21), err.

• Examples:
  • Ke kala mai i ka ʻino a me ka hala (Puk. 34.7), forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin.
• Related:
  • hoʻohala Caus/sim.; To cause to sin, lead astray; to fail to do.
• References:
  • See -hala manawa.
  • PPN sala.

2. vi., To pass, elapse, as time; to pass by; to miss; to pass away, die.

• Examples:
  • Ua hala ka manawa, time has passed; it is late.
  • Hala nō ka lā, the day indeed passes [enough for the day].
  • A hala i ka lani (Kanl. 9.1), up to heaven.
  • He ʻelua mano a me kona hala, eight thousand and more.
  • Kainoa a hala, it did happen; I thought it would happen.
  • Nome hala ʻole (Kel. 42), going on without stopping.
• Related:
  • hoʻohala Caus/sim.; To cause to miss; to dodge, turn aside; to pass, as time.
    • Hoʻohala lā, to spend the day.
    • Mai hoʻohala ʻoe iāia, do not miss him.
• References:
  • PPN sala.

3. n., The pandanus or screw pine (Pandanus odoratissimus 🌐), native from southern Asia east to Hawaiʻi, growing at low altitudes, both cultivated and wild. It is a tree with many branches, which are tipped with spiral tufts of long narrow, spine-edged leaves; its base is supported by a clump of slanting aerial roots. The pineapple-shaped fruits are borne on female trees whereas the spikes of fragrant, pollen-bearing flowers are borne separately on male trees.

• Examples:
  • Puna paia ʻala i ka hala, Puna, its walls fragrant with pandanus [fragrant flowers were placed indoors in house thatching and under mats].
• Related:
  • Many uses: leaves (lau hala) for mats, baskets, hats; the yellow to red fruit sections for leis, brushes; male flowers to scent tapa, their leaf-like bracts to plait mats (see hīnano). (Neal 51.)
  • The aerial root (uleule) tip is a good source of vitamin B and cooked in ti leaves was used medicinally, although unpleasant tasting.
  • The tree is called pū hala.
  • The hala lei is much liked today but formerly was not worn on important ventures because hala also means failure.
  • For the same reason some persons will not compose songs about hala.
  • Pineapples are hala plus qualifier.
• References:
  • See ex., pō #2.
  • PPN fara.