Having only 7 consonants in addition to the 5 vowels, the Hawai’ian language has most words and root words convey a multitude of different meanings based on context alone. Therefore, most of the Hawai’ian writings and chants contain up to several layers of hidden meanings beyond the surface level.

To give an idea of this, a given Hawai’ian chant might have a rather straightforward surface level meaning describing e.g. the legends of the Hawai’ian pantheon of Gods and Goddesses, or the pursuits of royalty (Ali’i).

The same chant will typically contain however one or more additional layers, e.g. one with a more political motivation, a further one with a spiritual context, asf.

Sometimes there is a so-called “Kaona” – a key – present that may provide guidance on this matter, but often the layers of translation can only be arrived at by the most diligent translation work.

Here is a link to a useful on-line Hawai’ian dictionary. I also recommend Tad James’ “Lost Secrets of Ancient Hawai’ian Huna, Vol. II – Chants”, as a handy resource. It combines the texts of some of the most typical chants, along with a collated “dictionary of dictionaries” of most of the relevant terms used in those chants and all of their possible meanings.

One more item of great importance about the Hawai’ian language and its forms of chanting: The language “has breath”, that is, it is spoken with vigorous aspiration from the center of the body. It has a certain energy and quality to its sounds, such that the only meaningful comparison would be to something like the Gregorian Chants.

A useful anecdote in this regard is the formation of the term that the Hawai’ians first used for the newly arrived Westerners, which is now a Hawai’ian slang term and used with derogatory connotation by some:

Ha-ole (pronounced “Haulee” in the slang), literally means, “without breath” or also “white, as if dead” or “ghost”, and refers to the natives perception of English being a language without breath. Wherefore they were concerned for the newcomers’ health, fearing them sick and almost dead, which in their eyes explained the white complexion.

Even the word “Hawai’i” itself comes from the roots of Ha – “breath”, Wai – “water” / “life force”, and ‘i’ – “supreme”, taken together: “The Supreme Life Force that rides on the breath”. Incidentally, since only the Big Island is formally named “Hawai’i”, the naming of all of the Islands by that term indicates the shared understanding of the great principle behind the name.