What Aloha Means
Aloha in the Hawaiian language means affection, love, peace, compassion and mercy. Since the middle of the 19th century, it also has come to be used as an English greeting to say goodbye and hello. Currently, it is mostly used in the sense of hello; however, it is used as the above. It is also the state nickname of Hawaii, the “Aloha State”. The word aloha derives from the Proto-Polynesian root *qarofa, and ultimately from Proto-Malayo-Polynesian.
It has cognates in other Polynesian languages, such as Samoan alofa and Māori aroha, also meaning “love.” A folk etymology claims that it derives from a compound of the Hawaiian words alo meaning “presence”, “front”, “face”, or “share”; and ha, meaning “breath of life” or “essence of life.” Although alo does indeed mean “presence” etc., the word for breath is spelled with a macron or kahakō over the a (hā) whereas the word aloha does not have a long a. The use of the word as a greeting has been reconstructed to Proto-Polynesian.
Before contact with the West, other words used for greeting included welina and anoai. Today, “aloha kakahiaka” is the phrase for “good morning.” “Aloha ʻauinalā” means “good afternoon” and “aloha ahiahi” means “good evening.” “Aloha kākou” is a common form of “welcome to all.” In modern Hawaii, numerous businesses have aloha in their names, with more than 3 pages of listings in the Oʻahu phone book alone.
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