Land of the Long White Cloud

Loose calque of Maori Aotearoa, from ao (“cloud, daytime, world”), tea (“white”), and roa (“long, tall”). Allegedly the first English-language mention was in the February, 1916, New Zealand School Journal (King, 2004). Probably a reference to the appearance of mountainous land when seen on the horizon from a canoe after an ocean voyage. (This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

the Land of the Long White Cloud

1. (poetic) New Zealand.