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 actually pretty simple! Still, I'll provide a breakdown for your understanding. This one is perfect to end the year, especially if you're feeling unaccomplished despite your efforts (in a short amount of time - one year is not long at all!).
- ʻAʻohe = There is no, not any; composed of ʻAʻole and He
- Hua = Fruit [here]; this word by itself means something along the lines of "nugget" and often needs a qualifier (you might recognize: hua ʻōlelo [word, "language nugget"], hua ʻai [fruit, "food nugget"], hua moa [egg, "chicken nugget"]). If it's obvious from context or already brought up in conversation, this qualifier is no longer needed, as is the case in our ʻŌlelo Noʻeau above.
- o ka = of the
- Maiʻa= Banana
- i ka = in the; also a Causative: "because of"
- Lā = Day [here]; Sun
- Hoʻokahi = One (quantity; as opposed to ʻekahi, used for counting); in this sense, it can have the sentiment and translation of "Same"
All together:
There is no fruit of the banana in one day/the same day.
There is no fruit of the banana because of one day.
i.e. Rome wasn't built in a day.