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Talk:E Ola Ke Aliʻi Ke Akua

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Translation

Hi. I was wondering what E Ola Ke Alii Ke Akua translate to in Hawaiian. I inferred that it might be God Save the King since Akua=God and Alii=King. I don't know what the other phrases means of course and my knowledge of the language doesn't go pass guessing and inferring.

Also I notice this part of the song has 7 lines in Hawaiian and 8 line in English. Could there be translation errors or is?
I mua ou makou Before Thee
Ke ʻliʻi o na Ali`i King of Kings
E aloha mai Of Whom all nature sings
E mau ke ea e Our prayer we bring
ʻO ke aupuni nei Oh let our kingdom live
E ola mau makou Life, peace and union give
Me ka moʻi Let all Thy care receive
Bless Thou our king

KAVEBEAR (talk) 03:49, 13 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]

E Ola Ke Alii Ke Akua

The title is a bit strange; following the Hawaiian VSO (verb-subject-object) word order, this would translate to "King, Save God." But since ola can mean "to save", I guess the title could mean "God Save The King." Based on what I know of Hawaiian grammar, the title might rather be "E Ola Ke Akua i Ke Ali‘i", which would mean "God, Save the King". But hey, it was Lunalilo, I won't argue with what he named the song.

As for the lyrics...

I mua ou makou Before Thee
Ke ʻliʻi o na Ali`i King of Kings
E aloha mai Of Whom all nature sings
E mau ke ea e Our prayer we bring
ʻO ke aupuni nei Oh let our kingdom live
E ola mau makou Life, peace and union give
Me ka moʻi Let all Thy care receive
Bless Thou our king

This is odd to me. "E mau ke ea e" ("let the sovereignty be eternal" or something similar) and "ʻO ke aupuni nei" seem to both refer to "Oh let our kingdom live". The line "Let all Thy care receive" doesn't seem to have a direct translation in the Hawaiian lyrics, and "E aloha mai" is quite vague. Kal (talk) 06:42, 13 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]

This song was never Hawaii's version of God Save the Queen only King since Liliuokalani did not reign during the time this song was Hawaii's national anthem.

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