Oceanic peoples in pre-contact times shared their world with ghostly spirits, both human and non-human in origin. In particular, it was thought that a dead person could continue to exist as a ghost or disembodied spirit, typically as a protective guardian spirit. In Manus in the Admiralties an ancestral ghost was physically represented by the skull of the householder’s father, which occupied a niche over the entrance to the house (Fortune 1935:1). In Mekeo (PT), a sorcerer kept with him the relics (bones, teeth, hair) of his patrilineal ancestors, with whom he was in constant communication (Stephen 1987:57). In Sa’a and Ulawa (SES), dwelling houses held a relic case containing the skull or jawbone or lock of hair or tooth of the departed, to which offerings were made (Ivens 1927:178). Invocations made in the performance of magic addressed the ancestors and sometimes included them by name (Stephen 1987:59, Hogbin 1964a:87). In pre-contact Oceania it was the ancestors who were responsible for maintaining the conditions under which the community flourished. A moral code was implicit, even if unlabelled. If you followed the code your garden flourished, your children grew well, your fishing trips were successful. Deviation from this code resulted in ancestral displeasure, manifested in misfortune, illness or death.
Also frequenting the Oceanic world were spirits which have never inhabited a human body. At times the distinction between ghosts of the ancestors and non-human spirits has become blurred. Terms in some languages are general terms for spirits of both kinds. Non-human ghosts might adopt human shape, but would also be recognised in other creatures and in inanimate objects. They were sometimes merely mischievous, but generally to be feared.
Oceanic peoples also believed in the existence of the soul as something which resides in a living body but has some kind of continuing existence after the body dies when its role merges with that of ancestral spirit. There was a widespread belief among Oceanic speaking communities that this life force or soul was free to leave the living body in dreams and, by virtue of its non-corporeal nature, commune with the spirits. As Firth put it, “dreams are valuable circumstantial evidence for the reality of the spirit world” (1967:165).
The concept of ancestral spirit is traceable back to PAn *qaNiCu ‘ghost, spirit of the dead’ (ACD). POc *qanitu ‘spirit of the dead’ is widely supported, its central meaning at times subsumed in a range of interpretations including any supernatural beings, ghosts, evil spirits, the soul, and, in places, the Christian God.
| PAn | *qaLiCu | ‘ghost, spirit of the dead; owl’ (ACD) | |
| PMP | *qanitu | ‘ghost, ancestral spirit; nature spirit; corpse; owl; various plants’ (ACD) | |
| POc | *qanitu | ‘ancestral spirit, spirit of the dead’ | |
| Adm | Wuvulu | aniʔu | ‘spirit of the dead’ |
| NNG | Kove | anitu | ‘ghost; evil spirit’ |
| NNG | Gitua | anut | ‘God’ |
| NNG | Gedaged | nitu-n | ‘soul, separate in nature from the body; shadow; image, likeness’ (inalienably possessed)2 |
| NNG | Takia | ŋutu- | ‘soul, spirit’ |
| PT | Motu | (mase-)anitu | ‘die from disease, not a violent death’ (mase ‘die’) |
| MM | Vitu | ɣanitu | ‘(dead) spirit’ |
| MM | Bola | anitu | ‘ghost’ |
| MM | Tangga | kinit | ‘corpse; bush spirit of ghost; soul after death’ |
| MM | Mono-Alu | nitu- | ‘spirit of dead person’ |
| MM | Maringe | n-anitu | ‘spirit, ancestral spirit, ghost, forest spirit; spiritual power; any unfamiliar, frightening presence’ |
| PMic | *anitu | ‘god, spirit’ (Bender et al., 2003a) | |
| Mic | Kiribati | (te)anti | ‘a god, spirit, ghost’ |
| Mic | Kiribati | anti-na | [V] ‘deify, hold or worship as a god’ |
| Mic | Marshallese | anic | ‘ghost, spirit, phantom; God’ |
| Mic | Marshallese | anic-nic | ‘spell, enchantment; magic, sorcery, witchcraft’ |
| Mic | Kosraean | inut | ‘god, spirit, ghost’ |
| Mic | Ponapean | eni | ‘ghost, usually considered malicious’ |
| Mic | Ponapean | ani | ‘guardian spirit, ghost of an ancestor’ |
| Mic | Mokilese | eni | ‘demon, ghost’ |
| Mic | Chuukese | ənɨ, anɨ | ‘god, spirit, spirit of the dead, ghost’ |
| Mic | Puluwatese | yanɨ | ‘ancient god’ |
| Mic | Woleaian | yalʉsʉ | ‘ghost, spirit, god; chant directed to a god of spirit’ |
| Fij | Wayan | anitu | ‘spirit, ghost, supernatural being’ |
| PPn | *qaitu | ‘ghost, spirit of dead person’ (POLLEX)3 | |
| Pn | Tongan | ʔeitu(matupuʔa) | ‘proper name of certain supernatural being’ |
| Pn | Niuean | aitu | ‘ghost, supernatural being’ |
| Pn | Rennellese | ʔaitu | ‘worshipped deity, god, esp. the district gods; Lord, Jesus; worship a deity’ |
| Pn | Samoan | aitu | ‘ghost, spirit; descendents of the original gods’ |
| Pn | Samoan | aitu-a | [V] ‘be haunted’ |
| Pn | Nanumea | aitu | ‘family spirit in animal form which helped the family by providing omens and making predictions; ghost; fairy’ |
| Pn | Rarotongan | aitu | ‘god, deity, spirit’ |
| Pn | Kapingamarangi | eitu | ‘spirit, ghost; monster; ancient deities’ |
| Pn | Māori | aitu | ‘sickness, calamity; demon’ |
| Pn | Māori | aitu-ā | [ADJ] ‘of ill-omen, unlucky; unfortunate, in trouble’; [N] ‘misfortune, trouble, disaster, accident; omen, particularly evil omen’ |
| NNG | Mangap | kon | ‘ghost, spirit of the dead’ |
| NNG | Yabem | katu- | ‘his shadow, picture, soul, ghost, spirit’ (directly possessed) |
| MM | Nakanai | (la)-hitu | ‘all ghosts of the dead both recent and ancestral’ |
| SES | To’aba’ita | ano | ‘spirit of a deceased person’ |
| SES | Longgu | ano-a | ‘spirit of ancestor or dead person’ |
| SES | Sa’a | ano-a | ‘a portent, omen, vision, apparition’ |
| SES | Arosi | ano-a | ‘an apparition, appearance of a ghost’ |
| Fij | Rotuman | ʔaitu | ‘god, object of worship; shark, stingray or other creature regarded as the habitat of a god’ (Pn loan) |
POc *tau-mate ‘corpse’, literally ‘dead person’, is reconstructed in vol.5:45. In view of the following reflexes, its meaning may have included ‘spirit of the dead’.
| POc | *tau-mate | ‘corpse; spirit of the dead’ | |
| MM | Hoava | tomate | ‘spirit of the dead’ (Tryon and Hackman 1983: 327) |
| MM | Roviana | tomate | ‘corpse; ghost or spirit’ |
| MM | Kubokota | tomete | ‘spirit of the dead’ |
| Mic | Puluwatese | hōmæ | ‘bad ghost of departed person’ |
A comparable PNCV reconstruction varies the first element, with *tau replaced by either *qata ‘person’ (vol.5:47) or *qata ‘soul, spirit’ (vol.5:205) (see also François 2013:214).
| PNCV | *qata-mate | ‘ghost; spirit of dead person’ (Clark 2009) | |
| NCV | Mota | tamate | ‘dead man, ghost; dead man in separation from his body’ |
| NCV | Lakon | ætmæt | ‘ghost, spirit of dead person’ |
| NCV | Raga | atmate | ‘dead man, ghost; soul’ |
| NCV | Nokuku | temate | ‘spirit’ |
| NCV | Paamese | temate | ‘evil’ |
| NCV | Nguna | (na-)atamate | ‘spirit of the dead; devil’ |
| NNG | Mangseng | tamata | ‘spirit, demon’ |
Other low-level reconstructions include:
| PNGOc | *bara(q)um | ‘spirit of dead person’ | |
| NNG | Dami | balaū | ‘ghost, spirit, phantom’ |
| NNG | Yabem | balom | ‘spirit of deceased persons, ghosts of the dead’ |
| NNG | Bukawa | balom | ‘spirit; bullroarer’ |
| PT | Gumawana | baloma | ‘a spirit of a person’ (generic) |
| PT | Kilivila | baloma | ‘spirit of the dead’ |
| PT | Kilivila | bili-baloma | ‘spirits of ancient dead’ |
| PT | Bwaidoga | balaumo | ‘an evil spirit, never human’(Jenness & Ballantyne 1920: 149) |
| PT | Sinaugoro | balau | ‘spirit of the dead’(Seligman 1910: 193) |
| PT | Motu | lauma | ‘spirit, ghost appearing at night, formerly used only of ghosts of those killed, who appeared in terrible form’ |
In the Southeast Solomons a term is used that includes all ghosts, including those of non-human origin. Ivens (1927:16) writes of Sa’a, “In folklore, the akalo of an ordinary person appears after death, speaks and is spoken to before it departs to Kela of the Dead.” He distinguishes two kinds: a) the ordinary akalo, the ghost of the dead, and b) the akalo wasi, the wild ghost whose abode is the forest and who is dreaded (p.178). The latter are invoked for black magic. In Kwaio the wild ghost is an adalo kwasi.
The first vowel of the PSES form is uncertain, as Gaudalcanal-Gelic languages reflect *-i-, but Malaita-Makira languages (which lose *t-) reflect *a-.
| PSES | *t(i,a)dalo | ‘ghost, spirit’ | |
| Proto Guadalcanal-Gelic | *tidalo | ‘ghost, spirit’ | |
| SES | Gela | tidalo | ‘soul of a distinguished dead man; guardian spirit of the home of the dead; relic of the dead’ |
| SES | Bugotu | tidaðo | ‘ghost, amulet’ |
| SES | West Guadalcanal | tidao | ‘ghost, spirit’ |
| Proto Malaita-Makira | *adalo | ‘ghost, spirit’ | |
| SES | Longgu | agalo(i) | ‘devil, spirit (good and bad); soul’ (Hill n.d.); ‘general term for spirit’ (Hogbin 1935) |
| SES | To’aba’ita | akalo | ‘ghost; ancestral spirit; magic, sorcery’ |
| SES | Kwara’ae | akaol | ‘ghost, spirit’ (metathesis) |
| SES | Kwaio | adalo | ‘ghost, ancestral spirit’ |
| SES | ’Are’are | akaro | ‘spirit whose abode is in the forest’ |
| SES | Sa’a | akalo | ‘ghost, spirit’ (Ivens 1927) ; ‘soul of a living man, ghost of an ordinary person’ (Codrington 1891: 260) |
| SES | Arosi | adaro | ‘ghost; corpse; spirit, demon; soul which leaves the body the fourth day after death and continues to live near the village’ |
| SES | Kahua | ataro | ‘ghost, spirit’ |
| SES | Owa | ataro | ‘devil, demon, spirit, evil spirit’ |
| SES | Lau | agalo | ‘disembodied spirit living on earth; ghost in spirit world’ |
The etymon reflected in the cognate set below may also have meant ‘person’s spirit’, living or dead, as attested by its Manam usage (see below) but the glosses collectively are vague. There are irregularities in the correspondences which make it difficult to reconstruct the POc form. They suggest that some forms must be borrowings, but the direction of borrowing is unclear. The Admiralties forms disagree on the final vowel of the root, but the PAdm form was apparently directly possessed (vol.5, §3.1.1), supporting the hypothesis that the form denoted the spirit of a person. Among the PNGOc forms, the Manam and Poeng reflexes point to POc *-b- as the last consonant, Lukep, Mangseng and Sinaugoro to *-w-.
| POc | *mʷa(l,r,R)(i)awa- | ‘spirit, living or dead’ | |
| PAdm | *mʷalaw(i,a)- | ‘spirit, perhaps of the dead’ | |
| Adm | Drehet | moluwi-ŋ | ‘spirit’ |
| Adm | Lou | moloa-n | ‘spirit of the dead’ |
| Adm | Nyindrou | malawi-n | ‘spirit, reflection’ |
| Adm | Titan | mwalua-n | ‘spirit, ghost’ |
| PNGOc | *mʷaria(b,w)a- | ‘spirit, perhaps of a person’ | |
| NNG | Manam | mariaba | ‘person’s spirit’ (Wedgwood 1934-35: 71) |
| NNG | Lukep | mariawa | ‘bush spirit’ |
| NNG | Mangseng | meleun | ‘spirit’ |
| NNG | Mengen | maliava | ‘spirit’ |
| PT | Sinaugoro | mulava | ‘ghost’ |
Widespread among Oceanic peoples was belief in a life force that was part of a person’s essential being, yet immaterial and separable from the physical body. Close translation is ‘soul’, although the Oceanic concept has some properties that do not accord with the broad western concept. A number of Oceanic reflexes of POc *maqurip ‘be alive, life, flourish; be in good health’, additional to those reconstructed in vol.5:210, justify the addition of ‘soul, life force’ to the POc gloss.
| PAn | *qudip | ‘life; alive’ (ACD) | |
| PMP | *ma-qudip | ‘living, alive; grow, flourish; fresh; heal, cure, revive, recover’; [N] ‘vital principle, soul, spirit; flame’ (ACD) | |
| POc | *maqurip | [V] ‘be alive, live, flourish; be in good health’; [N] ‘soul, life force’ | |
| SES | Owa | maurifa-na | ‘life of s.o., soul of s.o.’ |
| NCV | Kiai | mauri | ‘live, life, soul’ |
| Pn | Rennellese | maʔugi | ‘life principle or spark, way of life, soul’ |
| Pn | Pukapukan | mauli | ‘soul, spirit’ |
| Pn | Tikopia | mauri | ‘spirit, life principle; vitality of man or animal’ |
| Pn | Anutan | mauri | ‘live, be alive; life, soul’ |
| Pn | Rarotongan | mauri | ‘soul, life principle of man, spirit of a deceased person’ |
| Pn | Takuu | mauri | ‘spirit, shade, soul’ |
| Pn | Māori | mauri | ‘life principle, source of the emotions’ |
Among properties attributed to the soul was its ability to temporarily leave a sleeping body, as evidenced in dreams, and communicate with the gods. The soul could also be seen as both agent and patient in acts of magic. It was particularly vulnerable to attack from those who wished harm to its owner. Michele Stephen, an anthropologist who had the rare opportunity of instruction in the traditions of magic and sorcery in Mekeo by “one of the most knowledgeable and powerful magicians in the whole region” (1987:53), learned that from a Mekeo perspective, all magic involved control of the soul of the intended patient. She was taught that (Stephen 1987:62)
the stated aim [of the magic] is twofold: a) to draw out and attract the soul, or dream-image, of the subject (oge e ilaʔa); b) to send out the soul, or dream-self, of the practitioner (lalauga e papealai), which then acts upon the subject’s soul. The principles underlying love magic, hunting magic, weather sorcery and war magic as my instructor so frequently impressed upon me – are exactly the same – to attract and then control the soul of the victim.
The soul thus had a pivotal role in matters of life and death. In many parts of Oceania, severe illness was interpreted as theft of a person’s soul or life force by either a spirit or sorcerer, with recovery dependent on its retrieval. The following examples illustrate.
As Fortune (1935:10) describes it in Manus, if a ghost wishes ill to a mortal he takes the soul-stuff [mʷelolo] from the mortal. To overcome an illness it is necessary that the soul be recovered and restored to its owner.
When a person is seriously ill in Manam (NNG), theft of the spirit [mariaba] by sorcery is suspected (Wedgwood 1934-35:296–7). She describes “specialists” who, while in an induced sleep [dimate], travel to the Land of the Dead to recover the spirit of an unconscious patient.
In Gedaged (NNG), offerings are made to ancestors who are supposed to have stolen the soul [nitun] of a sick person (Mager 1952:121).
In Kove (NNG), Chowning (1989:224) writes that “if sickness in a baby or young child was diagnosed as having resulted from the capture of the child’s soul [tautau] by a masalai [TP ‘spirit of non-human origin’], the curer [valu-valu] magically sent his soul, while his body slept, into the spirit world to locate that of the child and its captor. His task was to recover the soul, ascertain the cause of sickness and to deal with those responsible.”
Valentine (1965:174) describes magical practice in Lakalai (= Nakanai, MM) “by which men or women fly to the dwelling places of ghosts and ancestors … to rescue souls captured by ghosts or other spirit beings … According to contemporary practitioners, the soul rescuer may persuade or trick the ghostly captors into giving up the lost soul, but he often has to struggle with them and flee for his life with the recaptured soul. If he is successful, the illness caused by the loss of the soul will disappear.”
In Nehan (MM), Glennon & Glennon (2006) describe uelhohou [uel- RECIP, hohou ‘sleep’], a fever-curing ritual where the curer searches in sleep for the lost soul of the patient and the ghost responsible for the sickness so that the reason for the soul’s theft might be sought and appropriate reparations made.
Ivens (1927:325, 345) describes incantations used in Ulawa (SES) “when a person was about to employ the magic sleep [maʔahu isuli] in order to trace anyone, or to find out the cause of an illness”.
François (2013:232) describes the situation in the Torres Islands of Northern Vanuatu. “The shaman’s main role is to be a healer. When somebody is sick, this means their soul has been kidnapped by spirits (PTorres *[a]tamate), and carried away to the other world (*mbanoi). Only a shaman [*(a)tamate roŋo] has the power – aided by magic leaves – to migrate to that world, retrieve the lost soul of the person, and lead it back to the world of the living.”
Oceanic peoples believed in the dual nature of the soul, both present in the life force and continuing to exist after death. A number of languages express this duality by having separate terms for the soul that dies with the body and the soul that survives to merge with the role of ancestral spirit. Examples follow from NNG (Gedaged, Manam), PT (Dobu), MM (Lakalai), SES (Gela, Kwaio), N. Vanuatu (the Torres-Banks languages) and Pn (Tikopia).
Gedaged speakers believe a person has two souls: buga ‘shadow soul, guardians of the customs and morals of a village’ and nitun ‘soul, separate in nature from the body that leaves the body after death and wanders around’ (Mager 1952:44).
In Manam the apparent soul (mariaba oaŋka) can go to the place of a person’s dream and return. The real soul (mariaba kaliŋo) [mariaba ‘person’s spirit’, kaliŋo ‘flesh’] stays with the person until death. It then goes to Liku in the mainland where all souls live (Böhm 1983:164).
Malinowski writes (1922:43) that “the Dobuans have also the belief of a double soul – one shadowy and impersonal, surviving the bodily death for a few days only, and remaining in the vicinity of the grave, the other, the real spirit, who goes to Bwebweso.” The disembodied spirit is ʔanu-ʔanunu or maʔa-maʔayau. The part which goes to spirit land is nibowana or yaru-yarua (Dixon 1928).
Valentine (1965:166–7) describes the Lakalai of New Britain as speaking of three soul-like entities, halulu, kalulu and hitu, kalulu evidently a local variant of halulu (from POc *qanunu). Although he describes some confusion among informants as to the nature of each he offers the following: halulu refers also to ‘shadow, reflection’. kalulu is the normally invisible spirit double of the living person that goes forth in dreams. It may be captured by spirits which cause illness. hitu is generally considered as the form taken by kalulu after death, referring to spirits of the dead.
In Gela, during a man’s life, his spirit, taruŋa, goes out of him in dreams and returns; at death it departs the body finally and becomes a ghost, tindalo (Codrington 1891:249).
Writing from the perspective of the Kwaio, Keesing writes (1982:105) that “most Malaita peoples conceive of two soul components, one of which goes to a Land of the Dead while the other remains as an ancestral spirit in the community. These soul components are variously associated with shadow, reflection and breath.”
In the Torres-Banks languages, after death, people no longer refer to a person’s soul (PT-B *ata) but rather to their ghost (*[a]tamate) (François 2013:219).
The Tikopia believe that a person has a single soul, mauri or ora, which may travel away from the body during dreams. After death there is a change of terminology and function. Now it is atua, not ora. This implies its emergence as an entity in its own right, no longer in direct association with its body. It remains in the vicinity of the body until after the burial, and ends up in one of several dwelling places, where it remains active (Firth 1967:339).
POc *maqurip (V) ‘be alive, live, flourish; be in good health’; (N) ‘soul, life force’ reconstructed above, is suggested as the term for the soul belonging to the living person. Two further terms have been reconstructed for ‘soul’ (included in vol.5, §3.9.1), both referring also to shadow or reflection, images that to the native mind are evidence of the soul’s existence. Reflexes of POc *[qa]nunu ‘shadow of person, likeness, reflection; soul that may leave the body in dreams’ are numerous and widespread. Those of POc *qata ‘soul, spirit; shadow, reflection’ are almost in complementary distribution, limited to just three subgroups – TM, NCV and Pn. Only in NCV is there any overlap, with Mota the only language identified with reflexes in both.
| PAn | *qaLiŋu | ‘shadow, reflection’ (ACD) | |
| PMP | *qan[i,u]nu | ‘shadow, reflection’ (ACD) | |
| POc | *[qa]nunu | ‘shadow of person, likeness, reflection; soul that may leave the body in dreams’ (vol.5:204) | |
| Adm | Wuvulu | anunu | ‘shadow, reflection’ |
| NNG | Mangap | kunu- | ‘one’s own shadow, reflection, image, soul, personality’ |
| NNG | Manam | anunu(ka) | ‘shadow, image’ |
| NNG | Kaulong | enu- | ‘shadow, reflection, image; ghost, soul, (inner) substance’ |
| NNG | Aria | ano- | ‘spirit, soul; shadow; breath’ |
| NNG | Mengen | kannu- | ‘shadow, reflection (of person); spirit (within a person)’ |
| NNG | Mapos Buang | [q,k]enu- | ‘shadow, image; spirit which may leave the body in sleep; ancestor’ |
| NNG | Patep | knu- | ‘shadow, image; (person’s) spirit’ |
| NNG | Yabem | kanuʔ | ‘darkness, shadow’ |
| PT | Kilivila | ʔanu-ʔanunu | ‘shadow of a person’ (ʔ for exp. k) |
| PT | Molima | ʔanunu- | ‘shadow, reflection’ |
| PT | Minaveha | anua- | ‘shadow of a person, image, reflection; centre of feeling or emotion’ |
| PT | Bwaidoga | anunu- | ‘soul of a dead man’ |
| PT | Iduna | anunu- | ‘shadow, reflection; soul; ancestor ten generations back’ |
| PT | Dobu | ʔanu-ʔanunu | ‘soul which stays in the grave’ |
| PT | Misima | (ka)kanun | ‘shadow, image’ |
| MM | Vitu | hanunu(k) | ‘shadow, reflection’ |
| MM | Nakanai | halulu | ‘shadow, reflection’ (Valentine 1965: 166) |
| MM | Nakanai | kalulu | ‘soul, separable from the body, can leave the body in sleep’ |
| MM | Bola | xanu- | ‘soul, shadow, reflection’ |
| MM | Tolai | nono | [VI,VT] ‘to shade, shadow’ |
| MM | Nduke | nuni- | ‘shadow’ |
| MM | East Kara | ɣəlu- | ‘shadow’ (-l- for exp. –n-) |
| SES | Kwaio | nunu(-) | ‘shadow, image, picture; the shade of s.o. who wanders in dreams and talks to people’ (Keesing 1982: 35) |
| SES | Lau | nunu(-) | ‘shadow, shade; likeness, image’ |
| SES | Sa’a | nunu- | ‘shadow of persons, reflection, likeness, soul, consciousness’ |
| SES | To’aba’ita | nū-, nunu | ‘shadow, reflection, likeness’ (nū preferred with personal suffix) |
| SES | Arosi | nunu- | ‘image, shape, reflection’ |
| PSOc | *nunu | ‘shadow, image, reflection, soul’ (Lynch 2001) | |
| NCV | Mota | nunua-i | ‘the mental impression of sound or force, rather than actual impression, but taken to be real’ |
| NCV | Mwotlap | nini- | ‘shadow, reflection’ |
| NCV | Nokuku | nun, nuniu- | ‘shadow’ |
| NCV | Tamambo | nunu- | ‘shadow, picture, photo’ |
| NCV | Raga | nunu- | ‘shadow, picture, representation’ |
| NCV | Paamese | ninu- | ‘spirit, soul, shadow’ |
| SV | Kwamera | nanu(mu) | ‘spirit, ghost; shadow, reflection; likeness’ |
| NCV | Sa | nunun | ‘soul, shadow, reflection’ |
| NCal | Iaai | (ha)nu- | ‘soul, spirit (of dead person), silhouette, appearance’ |
| Mic | Kiribati | nunu- | ‘to cover, to shade (incantation)’ |
| POc | *qata | ‘soul, spirit; shadow, reflection’ (vol.3:205)4 | |
| TM | Buma | ata | ‘soul, spirit’ (François 2009: 107) |
| TM | Vano | ala | ‘soul, spirit’ |
| TM | Tanema | ae | ‘soul, spirit’ |
| PNCV | *qata- | ‘soul, spirit’ (Clark 2009) | |
| NCV | Mota | ata- | ‘soul, spirit’ |
| NCV | Hiw | ata- | ‘soul, spirit’ |
| NCV | Lehali | n-ɛta-n | ‘soul (of s.o.)’ (François 2013: 211) |
| NCV | Namakir | ʔata- | ‘(man’s) spirit’ |
| NCV | South Efate | (n)at | ‘soul, spirit’ |
| NCal | Iaai | hate | ‘mark, shadow’ |
| Fij | Rotuman | afa | ‘make a mark or impression’ |
| PPn | *qata | ‘spirit, soul; shadow (not shade), reflection, image’ (POLLEX) | |
| Pn | Tongan | ʔata | ‘shadow, reflection, image’ |
| Pn | Niuean | ata | ‘shadow, reflection’ |
| Pn | Rennellese | ʔata | ‘shadow, reflection’ |
| Pn | Samoan | ata | ‘shadow, reflection, duplicate’ |
| Pn | Samoan | ata-ata | ‘reflections’ |
| Pn | West Futunan | ata | ‘soul, image’ |
| Pn | West Uvea | ata | ‘reflection, spirit of (dead) soul’ |
| Pn | Tikopia | ata | ‘shadow, reflection, representation of person or spirit’ |
| Pn | Māori | ata | ‘shadow, reflection; spirit, soul’ |
| Pn | Hawaiian | aka | ‘shadow, reflection, image’ |
| NNG | Yabem | katu- | ‘his shadow, picture, soul, ghost, spirit’ |
In most Polynesian languages, reflexes of PPn *qata refer primarily to ‘shadow, reflection’ while a reflex of PPn *qaŋa-qaŋa is the more usual term for ‘soul, spirit’.
| PPn | *qaŋa-qaŋa | ‘soul, spirit’ | |
| Pn | Tongan | ʔaŋa-ʔaŋa | ‘corpse, dead body of person’ |
| Pn | Niuean | aŋa-aŋa | ‘spirit (both life spirit and supernatural spirit)’ |
| Pn | Tuvalu | aŋa-aŋa | ‘soul’ |
| Pn | Samoan | aŋa-aŋa | ‘soul or disembodied spirit which at death leaves the body and proceeds to the Hadean regions under the ocean called Puloto’ (Turner 1884: 16) |
| Pn | East Uvean | aŋa | ‘character, quality, nature’ |
| Pn | Kapingamarangi | aŋ-aŋa | ‘body’ |
In a world which recognised the existence of ancestral spirits, perhaps it is not surprising that people also identified non-human supernatural beings. Ethnographies have numerous examples of such beings, with a wide range of form and function. In Wogeo, supernatural beings called nanaraŋ occupied the island before the arrival of men (Hogbin 1935a:377). They were not ancestors, but were responsible for establishing the local culture. In Dobu and parts of the Trobriands were reported flying witches who brought death and disease (Malinowski 1922:76, Fortune 1963). In Nakanai taua were believed to inhabit the bush and the sea and exist also in trees and rocks (Chowning & Goodenough 2016). In Petats on Buka Blackwood (1935:543) describes halelehan, spirits of non-human origin who sometimes adopt animal form. They are not regarded with such intense awe and fear as are the spirits of the dead [amat]. In Sa’a and Ulawa, the akalo wasi lived in the forest, were of murderous instinct and were dreaded (Ivens 1927:181). In the Torres-Banks languages of northern Vanuatu were a range of spirits including vui, described by François (2013:219) as ’the eternal spirits of the place, who are present even before mankind, and still inhabit the forest.” Polynesians believed in a pantheon of gods who peopled their legends and creation myths, and to whom offerings were made. A number of these languages have now used the term originally applied to their gods, to refer to the Christian god.
POc *qatuan ‘deity, supernatural being’ is supported by cognates from Polynesia and a single term from Emira. Additional Polynesian evidence lies in the existence of prefixes to terms for creatures or phenomena associated with danger and the supernatural, e.g. Tongan ʔotua-kui ‘whirlwind, waterspout’, Maori atua-piko ‘rainbow’, and Samoan atua-loa ‘k.o. centipede with poisonous bite’ (vol.4:420).
| PMP | *qatuan | ‘deity’ (ACD) | |
| POc | *qatuan | ‘deity, supernatural being’ | |
| Adm | Emira | otuana | ‘spirits’ (Chinnery 1925: 158) |
| PPn | *qatua | ‘supernatural being’; ‘deity’ (POLLEX) | |
| Pn | Tongan | ʔotua | ‘object of worship, deity, god’ |
| Pn | Niuean | atua | ‘god, spirit, ghost’ (now used exclusively for God; for ghost, aitu is used) |
| Pn | Samoan | atua | ‘god; divine, god-like; the original gods’ |
| Pn | Rennellese | ʔatua | ‘God, spirit, deity; to worship as a god’ |
| Pn | Tikopia | atua | ‘supernatural being in general; spirit, ghost; the soul of a dead person’ |
| Pn | Nanumea | atua | ‘household deity’ |
| Pn | Anutan | atua | ‘spirit being’ |
| Pn | Māori | atua | ‘God, demon, supernatural being, ghost; object of superstitious regard; anything malign, disagreeable; strange, extraordinary’ |
| Pn | Hawaiian | akua | ‘God, goddess, spirit, ghost, devil, image, idol, corpse; divine, supernatural, godly’ |
| Fij | Rotuman | ʔatua | ‘dead person, corpse, ghost’ (ghosts are very material to Rotuman mind; Pn loan) |
Also reconstructed is POc *tubuqan ‘supernatural being’. It appears to be derived from POc *tubuq ‘grow’, and to be identical with *tubuq-a(n) ‘body, substance’ (-an nominaliser) (vol.5:79–80),5 but with a specialised meaning, disassociated from the human body. Simet (1991) discusses the Tolai term tubuan at length. It refers not just to the mask but to the man who wears it, who assumes supernatural powers. The term is also used in Sursurunga and Tolai to label the male secret society in which tubuan activities take place.
| POc | *tubuqan | ‘supernatural being’ | |
| MM | Tolai | tubuan | ‘leaf mask; masked dancer’ (Meyer 1961) |
| MM | Barok | tubuan | ‘potent masked figure and associated dance’ |
| MM | Sursurunga | tobuən | ‘supernatural being; the male secret society associated with this being’ |
| PEOc | *tubuqa | ‘spirit being (possibly guardian spirit)’ | |
| SES | To’aba’ita | ðūfā | ‘one’s protective, guardian spirit’ |
| NCV | Nguna | na-tupua | ‘spirit’ |
| PPn | *tupuqa | ‘supernatural being’ | |
| Pn | Tongan | tupuʔa | ‘ancient, venerable’ |
| Pn | Niuean | tupua | ‘giant, evil spirit, demon; ancient gods’ |
| Pn | Samoan | tupua | ‘idol, image’ |
| Pn | Anutan | tupua | ‘spirit’ |
| Pn | Pukapukan | tupua | ‘demon, ogre, creature, monster’ |
| Pn | Tuvalu | tupua | ‘god; pre-christian wooden gods’ |
| Pn | East Futunan | tupuʔa | ‘stars marking months of year’ |
| Pn | West Futunan | tupua | ‘image, idol, sign’ |
| Pn | Tikopia | tupua | ‘traditional supernatural being, spirit; deity, esp. spirit never having been soul of living person’ |
| Pn | Tokelauan | tupua | ‘idol, guardian spirit’ |
| Pn | Tuamotuan | tupūa | ‘supernatural being’ |
| Pn | Tahitian | tupūa | ‘supernatural beings’ |
| Pn | Māori | tupua | ‘goblin, demon, foreigner, one versed in magic’ |
| Pn | Hawaiian | kupua | ‘supernatural being, being with natural power’ |
| Fij | Lau (Eastern Fijian) | tupua | ‘spirit or ghost’ (Pn loan: P. Geraghty, pers. comm.) |
Terms related to matters of belief and the spirit world have been subjected to a considerable degree of reinterpretation, particularly since the introduction and widespread adoption of Christianity. Defining the reconstructions is not helped by reliance in the cognate sets on the English term ‘spirit’, a word whose multiple meanings can refer to all of the concepts discussed here – ancestor spirit, non-human spirit and soul both as animating spark and as the part of a person that survives after death,6 resulting in a degree of cross-contamination of meaning in wordlists.
We can be confident that POc *qanitu (from PAn *qaniCu ‘ghost, spirit of the dead’) referred to ‘ancestral spirit’. POc *qatuan (from PMP *qatuan ‘deity’) may have referred more broadly to any supernatural being, whether human or non-human in origin. Evidence that there are distinct terms for the soul within a living person and the soul which survives after death has resulted in three POc reconstructions. Clearly there are various ways in which an abstract quality like ‘soul’ can be conceptualised. POc *maqurip (V) ‘be alive, live, flourish; be in good health’; (N) ‘soul, life force’, (from PAn *qudip ‘life; alive’) is readily understood as referring by extension to the animating spark in man. Although *[qa]nunu (from PAn *qaLiŋu ‘shadow, reflection’) and *qata both refer inter alia to ‘shadow, reflection’, the former has the added support from three subgroups (NNG, MM, SES) for the meaning to include ‘soul that may leave the body in dreams’.