LL-L "Lexicon" 2005.12.20 (05) [E]

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20 December 2005 * Volume 05
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From: R. F. Hahn <sassisch at yahoo.com>
Subject: Lexicon

Folks,

Lately (because of my frequent bouts of "kahunic channeling," possibly due 
to the warmer, moist "Pineapple Express" weather stream from the Hawaiian 
Islands hitting North America's northwestern coast) there has been some 
lighthearted talk about the Hawaiian term _kahuna_ (chief, priest, sorcerer, 
magician, wizard, shaman, minister, expert in any profession (whether male 
or female), nowadays also physicians and other experts).

In American English, "big kahuna" is a commonly used term, denoting 
something like "important person," "prominent person (in a profession or 
organization)," "bigwig" or "big cheese."

My question: is this known and used in other English-speaking area?  If it 
is known, is this because of the influences of the American media?

By the way, the Proto-Polynesian form of _kahuna_ is *_tafunga_.

I etymologize it thusly:

*ta- (> ka): (personalizing agent prefix)
*funga (> huna): minute particle, detail; secret, hidden, obscure
     (cf.  hūnā 'to hide', 'to keep confidential', 'to disguise')

Alhoha,
Reinhard/Ron
(Kahuna 'Ōlelo Kai 'Ākau)

P.S.:
Those of you who wish to listen to actual, sizeable chunks of narration in 
Hawaiian might like to visit the following journal full of classic Hawaiian 
essays:
http://hooilina.org/cgi-bin/journal?l=en
Click on "Browse by Journal" on the left.
Then click on any volume.
Choose [Original Hawaiian Version], [Modern Hawaiian Version] and/or 
[English version].
Click on the audio link on the right. 

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