pungapunga

Reduplication (thus doublet) of punga from Proto-Polynesian *puŋa (“coral rock”) (compare with Hawaiian puna (“coral, lime, plaster, calcium”), Tahitian puʻa (“coral, lime”), Tongan punga, Samoan puga)^[1] from Proto-Oceanic *buŋa (“white, porous coral or growth”) (compare with Fijian vuga), from Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *buŋa ni batu (“coral sponge, lit. 'stone bloom'”) extension of Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *buŋa (“flower”) (thus doublet of pua; also compare with Malay bunga (“flower”) and bunga karang (“sponge”)).^[2][3]

pungapunga

1. pumice

• punga
• pungarehu
• pungorungoru

Reduplication of punga “joint” – Cognate with Hawaiian puna (“internode”) and Samoan puga (“groin”).^[1]

pungapunga

1. ankle

• Williams, Herbert William (1917) “pungapunga”, in A Dictionary of the Maori Language, page 361
• “pungapunga” in John C. Moorfield, Te Aka: Maori–English, English–Maori Dictionary and Index, 3rd edition, Longman/Pearson Education New Zealand, 2011, →ISBN.