Editing Rongorongo (section)

== Etymology and variant names ==
''Rongorongo'' is the modern name for the inscriptions. In the [[Rapa Nui language]], {{lang|rap|roŋoroŋo}} or {{lang|rap|rogorogo}} means "to recite, to declaim, to chant out".{{refn|[[Sebastian Englert|Englert]] defines {{lang|rap|rogorogo}} as "{{lang|es|recitar, declamar, leer cantando}}" (to recite, declaim, read chanting), and {{lang|rap|tagata rogorogo}} (rongorongo man) as "{{lang|es|hombre que sabía leer los textos de los}} {{lang|rap|kōhau rogorogo}}, {{lang|es|o sea, de las tabletas con signos para la recitación}}" (a man who could read the texts of the {{lang|rap|kōhau rogorogo}}, that is, of the tablets bearing signs for recitation). {{lang|rap|Roŋoroŋo}} is the [[reduplication]] of {{lang|rap|roŋo}} "{{lang|es|recado, orden o mandato, mensaje, noticia}}" (a message, order, notice); {{lang|rap|tagata rogo}} is a "{{lang|es|mensajero}}" (a messenger).<ref name=Englert1993/>

{{lang|rap|Kōhau}} are defined as "{{lang|es|líneas tiradas a hilo}} {{lang|rap|hau}} {{lang|es|sobre tabletas o palos para la inscripción de signos}}" (lines drawn with a string ({{lang|rap|hau}}) on tablets or sticks for the inscription of signs).<ref name=Englert1993/>

The Rapanui word {{lang|rap|roŋo}} has [[cognate]]s in most other [[Austronesian languages]], from [[Malay language|Malay]] {{lang|ms|dengar}} {{IPA|/dəŋar/}} to [[Fijian language|Fijian]] {{lang|fj|rogoca}} {{IPA|/roŋoða/}} and [[Hawaiian language|Hawaiian]] {{lang|haw|lono}}, where these words have such meanings as "to listen", "to hear", ''etc.''<ref name="ACD">Blust & Trussel (2020) *deŋeR</ref>|group="note"|name="def"}}

The original name—or perhaps description—of the script is said to have been {{lang|rap|kōhau motu mo roŋoroŋo}}, "lines incised for chanting out", shortened to {{lang|rap|kōhau roŋoroŋo}} or "lines [for] chanting out".<ref name=Englert1993>Englert 1993</ref> There are also said to have been more specific names for the texts based on their topic. For example, the {{wikt-lang|rap|kōhau ta{{saltillo}}u}} ("lines of years") were annals, the {{wikt-lang|rap|kōhau ika}} ("lines of fishes") were lists of persons killed in war ({{wikt-lang|rap|ika}} "fish" was homophonous with or used figuratively for "war casualty"), and the {{wikt-lang|rap|kōhau raŋa}} "lines of fugitives" were lists of war refugees.<ref group=note name="def"/>

Some authors have understood the {{wikt-lang|rap|ta{{saltillo}}u}} in {{lang|rap|kōhau ta{{saltillo}}u}} to refer to a separate form of writing distinct from {{lang|rap|roŋoroŋo}}. [[Thomas Barthel|Barthel]] recorded that "The Islanders had another writing (the so-called '{{lang|rap|ta{{saltillo}}u}} script') which recorded their annals and other secular matters, but this has disappeared."<ref>Barthel 1958:66</ref> But [[Steven Roger Fischer]] writes that "the {{lang|rap|ta{{saltillo}}u}} was originally a type of {{lang|rap|roŋoroŋo}} inscription. In the 1880s, a group of elders invented a derivative 'script' [also] called {{lang|rap|ta{{saltillo}}u}} with which to decorate carvings in order to increase their trading value. It is a primitive imitation of {{lang|rap|roŋoroŋo}}."<ref>Fischer 1997:667</ref> An alleged third script, the {{lang|rap|mama}} or {{lang|rap|va{{saltillo}}eva{{saltillo}}e}} described in some mid-20th-century publications, was "an early twentieth-century geometric [decorative] invention".<ref>Fischer 1997:ix</ref>