Talk:Rotorua
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[edit] Hinemoa
Why put Hinemoa and Tutanekai under famous sons and daughters?
Umm, NOONE calls Rotorua Rottenrua, why is this included?
[edit] Rototua's silent killer
"A geologist is calling for a halt to development in Rotorua areas where he says poisonous geothermal gases are silently killing people. Will Esler, a Waikato University earth sciences student, says poisonous gases, especially hydrogen sulphide, will continue to silently kill Rotorua people. …" [1] (SEWilco 03:59, 24 October 2006 (UTC))
[edit] Gang problems
The "Gang problems" section keeps getting deleted. If you actually believe it should be deleted, state your reasons here. Simply deleting it without reason just smells like vandalism.Lilac Soul 08:24, 19 June 2007 (UTC)
[edit] Delete the gang problems section
Unless anyone can provide any legitimate evidence that gang problems are any worse than any other area in NZ the section should be removed - two news articles from the NZ Herald does not, (IMHO) constitute real evidence of a problem; many areas in NZ have far worse problems, notably Wanganui, Hastings, Palmerston North and Northland. True, there are gang elements in the Rotorua area, but not in the CBD - areas such as Murupara and Kaingaroa have these elements, but these are NOT Rotorua. Indeed, Whakatane, Gisborne and Tauranga all have these problems, but no mention is made on their pages. Indeed, try a search of the NZ Herald pages using the key word 'gangs' - Wanganui, Hastings (http://www.nzherald.co.nz/topic/story.cfm?c_id=124&objectid=10435360) and others areas appear more frequently than Rotorua - so why the bias?
Perhaps the person adding the gangs info has watched 'Once_Were_Warriors_(film)' one time too many! Ianguy 01:14, 21 June 2007 (UTC)
This indicates people with WP:COI issues are editing; but so far it seems their edits are making it more neutral as per WP:NPOV; so so far so good. Everyone ... please try to keep this article neutral ... neither a tabloid piece nor a chamber of commerce advertisement. Thank you. WAS 4.250 06:32, 22 June 2007 (UTC)
[edit] rua or rua ?
The toponym Rotorua can certainly be decomposed without mistake in two words : roto and rua
both are typical polynesian words and polynesian words often have a very wide range of meanings, wider that a european term actually, and that should be taken in account when translating them. when adressing the question of toponyms, one must also remember that toponyms are ancient word and that they should not be translated with present day meaning of the words
the word roto doesnt really mean "lake" but "in the inside, in the interior".see http://www.nzetc.org/tm/scholarly/tei-TreMaor-c1-11.html for examples. It is widely use in polynesian islands to refer to lagoons (inside the barrier reef or inside an island) or lakes but lake is not its real translation (only its practical translation in certain contexts)
the word rua means two in most of the present day polynesian languages (except in tahitian where it has been replaced by piti, rua staying sometimes in the toponymy like the "avarua pass" in Ra'iatea. ava is the passage, avarua is the double passage or the second passage. there is also an "avarua" in Rarotonga, yes
but one can remark that the rua composed toponyms are very frequent in polynesia and that sometimes the meaning "two" doesnt make sense. Also in names of ancient gods or heroes you find very often the word rua. At that point it must be remembered that there was an other word rua in protopolynesian that have not left children, as far as I know, in most present day languages
this other rua word meant "pit, hole" possibly had also an astronomical meaning in some cases see http://www.nzetc.org/tm/scholarly/tei-TreMaor-c1-11.html
when studying lakes or valleys or craters, one should always study the possibility of rua meaning "pit" instead of "two". legends that confirm the "two" version may have been reinterpreted at a posterior time, when the rua-pit word was not understood anymore.
so yes rotorua could be the "second lake" but I have been told that there are a lot of lakes there and rotorua could be rather the "lake in the hole".
stefjourdan@caramail.com
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- The article has it right, I think, in translating it as 'second lake', as that is the universally accepted translation, and I have never heard any other translation raised, and even though the renderings you suggest are perhaps technically possible at a stretch, they are, I feel, unlikely. There is no debate about the translation in the real world. The story behind the name, as given in the article, is one that is widely known among the Arawa people of the Rotorua area, and it ties in with their history. As far as I have ever heard, they never refer to the lake as a 'pit' or a 'hole', even tho 'rua' is also a word for pit or cave. That there are a lot of lakes in the area only lends weight to the translation as 'second lake' Kahuroa 06:07, 29 June 2007 (UTC)
[edit] Second Lake
From what I have been told it is Rotorua as it was the second lake discovered by Te Arawa Ianguy 08:11, 4 September 2007 (UTC)
