inanga
(ˈinaŋa)
Also inaka (the South Island form).
[Maori.]
1. The New Zealand name for a small fish, Galaxias attenuatus, the young form of which is called whitebait.
| 1845 E. J. Wakefield Adventure N.Z. II. 100 This fish is called hinanga, and resembles Blackwall whitebait in size and flavour. 1896 Australasian 28 Aug. 407/3 About the same size as this fish is the ‘inaka’ much used for bait. a 1939 ‘R. Hyde’ Houses by Sea (1952) 64 Brown women drying out inanga. 1944 Mod. Jun. Dict. (Whitcombe & Tombs) 209 Inanga, Inaka, the Maori name of the small fish called ‘whitebait’ in New Zealand; inanga in the north, inaka in the south. 1959 Tindale & Lindsay Rangatira x. 93 Every year shoals of the tiny, delicious inanga fish came up the creeks from the sea. 1962 Post-Primary School Bull. (N.Z.) XV. i. 26 Whitebait belongs to the species Galaxias attenuatus... The adult fish, called Inanga, reach a length of about four inches. |
2. An evergreen shrub or small tree, Dracophyllum longifolium, belonging to the family Epacridaceæ and native to New Zealand.
| 1889 T. Kirk Forest Flora N.Z. 215 Mr. Charles Traill informs me that it [sc. Dracophyllum longifolium] is termed ‘inaka’ by the Maoris on Stewart Island. 1910 L. Cockayne N.Z. Plants 76 In similar situations [sc. along the coastline] the inuka (Dracophyllum longifolium) and the smaller New Zealand flax (Phormium Cookianum) are common. 1929 W. Martin N.Z. Nature Bk. viii. 126 The Inanga ranges in size from a small shrub..to a tree 15 to 30 ft. high. 1961 H. H. Allan Flora N.Z. I. 532 D. longifolium... Inanga... The Forsterian specimens I have seen are scrappy. 1968 N.Z. Listener 15 Mar. 6/5 Lying in its sheltered cove..complete with its own rata tree, inaka bushes, and great cushy heaps of golden-green moss. |