[Ads-l] "hafu"

[Joel Berson]

Does "hapa" suggest an origin not from English "half" but from a Polynesian language (particularly if "hapa" can also mean "portion", and given the other comments about "hapu")?  Or at least a branched derivation from English "half" to both Polynesian "hapu" and Japanese "hafu"?Joel
      From: Benjamin Barrett <gogaku at IX.NETCOM.COM>
 To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU 
 Sent: Saturday, May 30, 2015 4:09 PM
 Subject: Re: [ADS-L] "hafu"
   
The "New Pocket Hawaiian Dictionary" (1992) says "hapa" is of mixed 
blood and "hapa haole" is part-white. Both definitions are for people as 
well as things (hapa also meaning portion, fragment). BB
> May 30, 2015 at 12:40 PM
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> Sender: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster: Jim Parish <jparish at SIUE.EDU>
> Subject: Re: "hafu"
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> If I recall correctly, when I lived in Hawaii (mid-'60s), as often as
> not the phrase was "hapa haole" - "half white", with the implication
> that the other half was Asian or Pacific Islander.
>
> Jim Parish
>

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