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Across the Pacific, the words waʻa, vaʻa, vaka, waka, waqa, waga, and waa are variations of the same ancient word for canoe. Linguists trace them through Proto-Polynesian *waka and Proto-Oceanic *waga to an earlier form approximately *waŋka. As Austronesian-speaking peoples spread through Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia, normal changes in pronunciation gradually produced the different forms heard today.
Hawaiian waʻa, Samoan and Tahitian vaʻa, Tongan and Cook Islands vaka, Māori waka, and Fijian waqa therefore preserve a shared linguistic inheritance—evidence of the canoe-building and voyaging tradition that accompanied the settlement of the Pacific.
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