Kauai or Kaua‘i: Which is Correct?
The ongoing debate among academics, activists, cultural practitioners, and just plain old “born and raised” Molokai locals over the “correct” pronunciation and spelling of Molokai vs. Moloka‘i reminds me of a similar controversy in the 1970s over Kauai vs. Kaua‘i. With no internet to stir up and enrage folks in those days, this conflict faded into history with little notice.
I arrived on Kauai in 1969. It’s been my home for over 50 years. For most of my first decade on this beautiful island, everybody I knew pronounced Kauai without the ‘okina—native speakers, plantation workers and kama‘aina alike. If you look at the tattoo on Wainiha taro farmer Papa Tony Tamba's right arm in this photo I made in 1975, you'll see it written just how everyone pronounced it back then.
So what happened? Did Kauai locals forget the proper pronunciation of their island for so long that they lost the ‘okina for several generations? Or did well-meaning outsiders with a political agenda impose the ‘okina on them?
While walking the road of good intentions, the generation that brought hefty academic rigor to studying Hawaiian culture and language has perhaps unknowingly repeated the historical conquest of Kauai by the Island of Hawai‘i. I have met many young, well-meaning local leaders who will correct Kauai kupuna if they hear them say “Kauai” in public. At great taxpayer expense, they also got the vernacular spelling of Kauai officially changed to Kaua‘i by the County in all government signage and official documents.
Mary Puku‘i, co-author of the modern Hawaiian Dictionary, established this ‘okina pronunciation for Kauai and Molokai residents in the modern era. That’s how she spelled those island names when she published her dictionary in 1957—making the names end with the same sound as Hawai’i, Puku‘i’s home island, and eventually compelling the correction of kupuna pronunciation and the shift in official speech and writing.
Let’s go back and see what we can discover about the historic pronunciation of Kauai. James Cook’s Journal generally refers to the Island of Kauai as “Atooi.” His journal notes the island “is called Atooi, Atowi, or Towi, and sometimes Kowi.”
Cook spelled the Island names: Oreehoua (Lehua,) Tahoora (Kaʻula,) Oneeheow (Niʻihau,) Atooi (Kauai,) Woahoo (Oʻahu,) Morotoi or Morokoi (Molokai,) Mowee (Maui) and Owhyhee (Hawaiʻi.)
If Cook heard the Kauai Island name ending with the ‘ee’ sound, he would likely have used the double ‘e’ in spelling its name, just as he did with Niʻihau, Maui, and Hawaiʻi. Given how Cook spelled other Island names, it appears the Island name of “Atooi” (Kauai) sounded like “ahh too eye” back then. George Vancouver used a similar phonetic spelling for Kauai—Attowai.
SS Hill, in his 1856 “Travels in the Sandwich and Society Islands,” notes, “The most remarkable of the islands, and those which we shall visit, are Waohoo or Oahu, Owyhee or Hawaii, and Mowhee or Maui. The next in importance is Kawai.” Hill further writes, “On the 27th of January, 1778, Captain Cook … first descried the island of Kawai, and came to anchor in the bay of Waimea, on the southern coast.”
Oh well, I understand. All this is amateur armchair academics. Languages live and evolve. If the past dictated how folks speak in the present we’d all be talking like characters in “The Canterbury Tales.” Conquerors and colonizers always dictate “correct” pronunciations and spellings.
Kamehameha, a Hawai‘i Island chief, eventually conquered all the islands. Kamehameha won. In 1821 King Liholiho (Kamehameha II) kidnapped Kauai's high chief, Kaumuali‘i, and forced him to marry Kamehameha's widow and his own co-regent, Ka‘ahumanu. King Kamuali‘i’s genealogy outranked the Kamehameha’s and the marriage bolstered the legitimacy and mana of the Kamehameha reign. Kamuali‘i lived the rest of his life in exile.
After the slaughter of the Kauai ali‘i, the Kamehamehas and their relatives, friends and court officials were awarded the lands formerly held by the Kauai ali‘i. The Mahele Maps tell the story, with almost all of the Kauai ahupua‘a and the Island of Ni‘ihau owned by the Kamehamehas and other Hawai‘i Island ali‘i. The Kauai maka‘ainana retained only the small kuleana—less than 2 percent of Kauai and Ni‘ihau’s total area. Understandably, many Kauai old-timers don’t celebrate Kamehameha Day.
In the 70s, my landlord, employer and the hereditary konohiki of Kalihikai, Kalihiwai and Kauapea, Uncle Boy Akana, made a brilliant observation. After his niece came home from the University of Hawai‘i and began “correcting” everyone’s pronunciation of Kauai, I was puzzled and asked Uncle Boy about this new pronunciation. A quiet, powerful man with a sharp intelligence and a wry sense of humor, Uncle Boy knew who wrote the dictionary, and he knew where she was from. He told me with a smile, “Das jus da Big Island guys still trying for conquer Kauai!”