ʻŌlelo Noʻeau are Hawaiian proverbs that often offer wisdom for a person to live by. The theme for this year is Aloha - the Hawaiian term for Love. These monthly posts will show you aloha in action, in the Hawaiian context.
This one is really easy! You can look at its basic structure here.
- Kēhau = Dew
- Hoʻomaʻemaʻe = To make clean, cleanse, purify, clear away filth or stench
- Aloha = Love
All together:
Love is a cleansing dew.
Love is a dew that cleanses.
Note:
You can think of the function of Hoʻomaʻemaʻe here in two ways:
A verb that's acting like an adjective. Think of it as describing kēhau that just happens to be a verb. See the first translation.
A verb without all the pomp and frills of tense markers. In the English, you can supply the word "that" to help with longer sentences. See the second translation. In the Hawaiian, you might even see ommissions of Direct Object markers! This makes it easier to abbreviate longer sentences.
You'll see lots of ʻŌlelo Noʻeau and other idioms and names use this structure!
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