释义 |
Tahitian, a. and n.|tɑːˈhiːʃən, tɑːˈhiːtɪən| Also Tahitan, † Taitian, † Taitienne. [f. Tahiti + -an; cf. Otaheitean a. and n.] A. adj. Of or pertaining to Tahiti, its inhabitants, or their language.
1822tr. Malte-Brun's Universal Geogr. i. xxiii. 572 Tagalic, Taitienne languages, &c... The Taitian is distributed through all the small islands of the Great Ocean. 1825W. Ellis Jrnl. Tour Hawaii 244 Both in the Hawaiian and Tahitian languages, every syllable, and every word, ends with a vowel. 1847Dublin Rev. Dec. 357 Numerous other matters of European manufacture..were strewn about among..the ordinary furniture of a Tahitian dwelling. 1852J. Crawford Gram. & Dict. Malay Lang. I. p. cclix, The names of the three plants are exactly according to the Tahitian pronunciation. 1921tr. Rathenau's New Society iv. 26 When a European artist writes or paints in Tahiti, what he produces is not a work of Tahitian culture. 1958[see cargador]. 1980London Mag. July 23 The ochre Tahitian soil of Gauguin's paintings. B. n. a. A native or inhabitant of Tahiti. b. The Polynesian language spoken in Tahiti.
[1822: see the adj. above.] 1825W. Ellis Jrnl. Tour Hawaii 49 He [sc. Ellis] could not help stating to them the striking identity between theirs [sc. their traditions] and those of the Tahitians. 1854J. Crawfurd in C. Bunsen Outl. Philos. Universal Hist. I. 427 A sentence in the Maori and Tahitian can be written in words common to both. 1859N. Wiseman Twelve Lect. Sci. & Rev. Relig. (ed. 6) I. 186 Charlevoix observed it among the Esquimaux,..Wallis among the Tahitans. 1914R. Brooke Let. Apr. (1968) 572 My Greek is something rusty. Had it been Tahitian now, or Fijian. 1918L. Huxley Life Sir J. D. Hooker II. 483 He gratified Banks's philanthropic zeal by leaving in his care two Tahitians and two Maoris. 1957P. Worsley Trumpet shall Sound i. 30 Sects including more or less of these elements have also appeared amongst the Tahitians. 1969J. H. Vance Deadly Isles (1970) iii. 22 He would forget the songs and his few words of Tahitian. 1980London Mag. July 24 Stevenson..and two Tahitians lolling among a pile of coconuts. |