ʻŌlelo Noʻeau are Hawaiian proverbs that often offer wisdom for a person to live by. The ones chosen are intended to apply particularly to your learning of the Hawaiian language in hopes to keep up your motivation.
This month's proverb is pretty simple, and you'll recall some words from previous ʻŌlelo Noʻeau. Still, I'll provide a breakdown for your understanding.
- ʻAʻohe = There is no, not any; composed of ʻAʻole and He
- Loaʻa = Gain, profit
(Our Home Page features an ʻŌlelo Noʻeau with this word!)
(See other uses of this word here)
- Noho = Seat, chair; To sit, stay, sojourn, live
- Wale = Just, only, simply
All together:
There is no gain in the sit alone.
There is no gain in only sitting.
Note:
Noho is acting as a noun here, even though it'll be easier to translate as a verb (as in the second example). The first example shows how, in English, we're creating a noun from the verb "to sit" (without being a gerund) in English - it's not terribly common, but not awkward or unheard of either. This is the same for Hawaiian (see the Laʻana about ʻana).
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