Get in here! This Kupu is for you!
Words take root—let’s grow together.
When the Crown first met with Māori, we were seen as collaborative partners — two peoples, side by side, navigating how to live together in this land. That vision of partnership has not always been honoured, but it remains a guiding light.
Today, Aotearoa New Zealand recognises three official languages: Te Reo Māori, English, and New Zealand Sign Language. Each carries its own mana, its own stories, and its own way of seeing the world.
On this page, I want to share with you some of the kupu (words) I use throughout Tomato Love.
They are not just translations — they are seeds of meaning, holding whakapapa, connection, and life. My hope is that you feel invited into the richness of Te Reo, and that this page becomes a doorway: a place where learning is joyful, inclusive, and grounded in aroha.
And if you’d like to go deeper — or hear how these kupu sound when spoken — you’ll find gentle links through to the Maori Dictionary.
“If you’re new to these kupu (words), don’t worry — each one is like a seed, explained here with aroha so we can grow together.”
He Kupu, He Kōrero: Māori Words That Shape Our Garden
“Discover the deeper layers of the words you’ll find here.”
Aroha
Love that breathes, love that acts.
Literal Meaning: Love, compassion, empathy.
Deeper Meaning: Aroha is not just affection — it is love in action, rooted in care, breath, and connectedness. It’s the heartbeat of relationships with people, plants, and place.
In Practice: When I say aroha, it’s the generosity in sharing seeds, the kindness in the garden, and the respect for all living things.
Kaitiakitanga
Guardianship with hands in the soil.
Literal Meaning: Guardianship, stewardship.
Deeper Meaning: Kaitiakitanga is about caring for the environment and all that lives within it, as guardians rather than owners. It carries responsibility passed down through generations.
In Practice: For Tomato Love, kaitiakitanga means saving seeds, protecting biodiversity, and tending the garden in a way that sustains future generations.
Kupu
Words are seeds — each one carries life.
Literal Meaning: Word, message, remark, saying.
Deeper Meaning: Kupu are not just sounds on a page — they hold mana, whakapapa, and the power to create or heal. In te ao Māori, a single kupu can shape relationships, carry blessings, or change the course of a story.
In Practice: When I say kupu on Tomato Love, I’m speaking of words that carry weight — the ones I use with intention to connect land, people, and spirit.
Mana
The strength of integrity, shining through actions.
Literal Meaning: Authority, prestige, spiritual power.
Deeper Meaning: Mana comes from integrity, whakapapa, and how we live in relationship with others. It can be uplifted or diminished through our actions.
In Practice: I use mana to recognise the dignity of people, the respect due to plants and whenua, and the trust we build with one another.
Rangiātea
The land beneath our feet, the life that holds us. The place of origin — from Hawaiki — from which the migratory waka journeyed.
Literal Meaning: The ancestral homeland, place of origin.
Deeper Meaning: Rangiātea speaks to where we come from — not just physically, but spiritually. It is the place of beginnings, of memory, and of connection that carries through generations.
In Practice: On Tomato Love, Rangiātea lives in the seeds we carry forward — each one holding a story, a lineage, and a connection to those who came before.
Whakaaro
Thought, idea, reflection..
Literal Meaning: Thought, idea, opinion, understanding.
Deeper Meaning: Whakaaro speaks to the way we form understanding — shaped by experience, observation, and connection. It is not just what we think, but how we come to know and make meaning.
In Practice: On Tomato Love, whakaaro grows through the garden — in what we notice, what we learn, and how we respond to the seasons, the soil, and the life around us.
Whenua
The land beneath our feet, the life that holds us.
Literal Meaning: Land, placenta.
Deeper Meaning: Whenua reminds us that the land and the placenta both sustain life. It speaks of the deep, inseparable bond between people and place.
In Practice: On Tomato Love, whenua is the soil we tend, the earth that nourishes us, and the spirit of connection we honour.
© Tomato Love | Epic Tomato Source for heirloom seeds and seedlings grown in Hokianga. Cultivated with love, history, and mana.
“He iti, he pounamu.”