Meta:Use of Appropriated Words in BIONICLE
Throughout BIONICLE's run, many words from other languages have been used for the names of characters and other story elements. While the most famous examples are of the Māori language (Te Reo Māori), there are also words from other languages including Rotuman and Latin.
List of Polynesian Words used in BIONICLE Canon
During BIONICLE's development, The LEGO Group used several words from Māori in naming the characters and locations in the story. In May 2001, before the official North American launch of BIONICLE, The LEGO Company received a legal challenge from representatives of several Māori iwi (tribes), alleging that their use of certain words were disrespectful to Māori culture.[1] LEGO ultimately acknowledged that they had utilized words and terms from the Māori and agreed to change several of them in future usage, as well as begin developing a code of conduct that would avoid similar mistakes in the future.[2][3] This resulted in many names being changed, both from Māori and from other Polynesian languages. The lawsuit was ultimately settled outside of court.
Multiple in-universe explanations were created to explain the changes, though they have since lost most applicability. At the time of the change, The LEGO Group initially stated that the Tohunga changed their species name after realizing they were all one people.[4] However, this explanation was only relevant at the time, and has been completely dropped from continuity, along with the name itself. The characters who had to be given new names were done so under the explanation of Naming Day, wherein characters receive new names for acts of valor; while the concept of Naming Day still exists in the story, any materials set in a time period prior to the change still refer to the characters by their new names. Despite this, most Māori words continued to be used.
Character Names
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Rahi Names
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In 2001, lego fan and employee Daniel Lipkowitz designed several creatures as personal projects, taking Māori words to name them. In 2002 some of these creatures were given new, original names and formally published by the lego club. Mukau did officially use its original name briefly, before being altered. The change was reportedly at the request of Bob Thompson, who found Mukau too silly.
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Mask Names
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Location Names
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Societal Names
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List of Words used by Templar
In 2003 Templar needed names for the Matoran characters it would feature in Mata Nui Online 2: The Final Chronicle. Drawing on words from real languages around the world that represented the six elements, they compiled a list of names and submitted it to LEGO with the designs for the characters in the game. LEGO later independently drew on some of the names from the list, modified them with variations they could legally use, and applied them to the characters from the Matoran wave the following year in 2004.[11] Several Matoran from MNOG II reappeared in the Toa Metru Mini Promo CDs, although because most of the Templar list of names were not approved by LEGO's legal team, they are ambiguously canon.
Plants
Ta-Koro Names
Le-Koro Names
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Ga-Koro Names
Onu-Koro Names
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Ko-Koro Names
Po-Koro Names
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List of Other Words used in BIONICLE Canon
The following names were added post-2003 and were approved by the legal team.
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List of Words Possibly Derived from English
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Trivia
- The Māori words used within the BIONICLE universe are often pronounced vastly differently than their real-world counterparts. For example, Whenua's name is pronounced wen-NOO-ah in BIONICLE,[13][14][15] while the word it is derived from is actually pronounced fen-OO-ah. Aside from the combination of "WH" making the same sound the letter "F" makes in English, the rest of the differences in pronunciation come from the vowel and vowel combination sounds, which are similar to that of many Asian languages, such as Japanese.
- The usage of several words in the landscape of the island of Mata Nui serve as early hints to the true nature of the island covering the face of the Great Spirit Robot.[16]
Notes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 This name was used in the story bible as of August 2000, but did not appear in later canon.[5]
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Some names like Takua, Nuparu, and Hahli were introduced in 2002 and may not follow the same naming scheme as the early entries to the canon.
- ↑ A being mentioned on the Polish version of the 2001 BIONICLE website.[6] Io is referred to as the "Great Creator" who gave the six heroes the name "Toa" and placed them in the world to guard it and maintain the balance of the elements. The name does not appear in any other BIONICLE media.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 One of two beings mentioned in the Mata Nui Online Game. Their names were derived from Rangi and Papa, figures in the Māori creation myth. The Papa Nihu Reef was also called "Papu Nihu Reef" in early media. Rangi's name does not appear in any other BIONICLE media. According to the August 2000 story bible, Rangi and Papa are short for Ranginui (the "sky father") and Papatuanuku (the "earth mother"). [5]
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 5.5 Although this term was introduced with the other early polynesian terms, no polynesian origin has been identified for it yet. Here is a possible alternative origin for the term.
- ↑ Nobua is a non-canonical character from the alpha v0.006 build of BIONICLE: The Legend of Mata Nui. In an unused audio file, Nobua's dialogue seems to refer to himself as "Tamariki" instead of Nobua, suggesting that this name was used earlier in development.[7]
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 For a long time, this Rahi was not considered to be a part of the official BIONICLE canon, having been completely replaced by the Gukko.[8] It has since been reapproved by Greg Farshtey not only as a canon Rahi, but also a subspecies of the regular Gukko.[9]
- ↑ In the Mata Nui Online Game II: The Final Chronicle, Maha were referred to as "Mahi", which can mean "work" in Māori. It is unclear if this was an intentional use of a Māori word or a coincidence. The English translation is potentially relevant, since Matoran sometimes use Mahi as beasts of burden.[citation needed] However, if the former is true, it marks a rare or unique instance a Māori word was introduced into the BIONICLE canon in years following the lawsuit.
- ↑ In Māori, "puku" can mean "drive". Much like "mahi", it is unclear if this was an intentional use of a Māori word or just coincidence. The English translation is potentially relevant, since Matoran often use Ussal crabs as a form of transport and even refer to them as "taxi crabs" in Mata Nui Online Game.
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 The Hura-Mafa River connects with Lake Naho, which means "eye" in Māori, foreshadowing the hidden Great Spirit Robot.
- ↑ The Papa Nihu Reef was called "Papu Niho" or "Papa Niho" in most early media.
- ↑ This name was used in the story bible as of August 2000, referring to "the canyons of the mind of the Mata Nui", but did not appear in later canon.[5]
- ↑ 13.0 13.1 Villagers of Mata Nui were frequently also referenced by their villages with their elemental prefix followed by "Koran" as derived from "Koro" (eg Ta-Koran, Ga-Koran, etc). This word was quickly replaced with "Koronan," likely owing in part due to the meaning of the real religious text spelled "Koran" in English. This word was again replaced by "Matoran" as derived from "Mata." "Matoran" ultimately also replaced "Tohunga" as the name of the villagers' species.
- ↑ 14.0 14.1 14.2 14.3 This name was cut during the development of Mata Nui Online Game II: The Final Chronicle.
- ↑ 15.0 15.1 15.2 15.3 15.4 Nuhrii, Orkahm, and Tehutti were originally called "Nuri", "Orkan", and "Tehuti", respectively, in the Mata Nui Online Game II: The Final Chronicle, but their names were changed in all following media. Ahkmou was also originally named "Akmuo" during development, but the name was changed prior to the release of the chapter in which he appeared.Similarly, Mamoru was later intended to be changed to Mamru to not be too close to the original name, although this change was not uniformly reflected in the game's files.[11] This was not a result of the challenge from the Māori peoples, but rather because their original names were never legally approved. Those names are considered non-canon.[12]
- ↑ 16.0 16.1 This name does not appear in Mata Nui Online Game II: The Final Chronicle. However, Peter Mack stated that Matoran for each Koro were designed and named by Templar Studios.[11] Since Vhisola and Ehrye's names appear to be consistent with other 2004 Matoran (Nuhrii, Tehutti, etc.) who have alternative spellings of relevant names in other languages, it is possible that they also originated from this game's design document and were unused in-game, similar to Afa and Bardo.
- ↑ The name Heremus is also possibly derived from haereō/hereō - Latin for "I am stuck," "I cling to," "I am stranded." Another possible origin is herēmīta, a Lanin noun derived from Ancient Greek meaning "hermit."
References
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