Teuira Henry was a Tahitian historian, linguist and ethnologist. She is famous for having compiled and translated the oral traditions, myths and knowledge of ancient Polynesia, notably in her major work “Ancient Tahiti”.
Teuira Henry(1847 — 1915)
Teuira Henry
5 min read
Frequently asked questions
Key Facts
- Born in 1847 in Tahiti, granddaughter of the British missionary John Muggridge Orsmond
- Inherited her grandfather's manuscripts and ethnographic notes on Tahitian culture
- Devoted decades to compiling the traditions, genealogies and myths of ancient Polynesia
- Her work “Ancient Tahiti” is published posthumously in 1928 by the Bishop Museum of Honolulu
- Died in 1915, leaving behind a major documentary source on pre-European Polynesia
Works & Achievements
A monumental compendium gathering the myths, chants, prayers, genealogies and knowledge of ancient Polynesia. A founding reference work of Tahitian ethnology.
The transcription and translation of her missionary grandfather's notes. Without her, these texts would have been lost.
Preservation of the Tahitian cosmogony, the account of the origin of the world from the god Ta'aroa. A key text of Polynesian mythology.
Preservation of the lineages of Tahiti's great families. A precious source for the social and political history of the islands.
Partial publications spreading her research among the learned societies of the Pacific. Scientific recognition of her work.
Anecdotes
Teuira Henry inherited the notebooks of her grandfather, the missionary John Muggridge Orsmond, who had spent decades recording the chants, genealogies, and tales of the Tahitian priests. Rather than letting these papers gather dust, she decided to organize, translate, and complete them: it was this patient work that would become *Ancient Tahiti*.
At a time when Polynesian traditions were often dismissed as “pagan” and worthless, Teuira Henry treated them instead as a scholarly treasure. She carefully transcribed the creation stories, the names of the gods, and the great genealogies, preserving texts that oral memory was in the process of losing.
Her major work was not published until 1928, thirteen years after her death, by the Bishop Museum in Honolulu. Many of her readers never knew that behind this monumental volume lay two generations of collecting: that of Orsmond and that of his granddaughter.
Bilingual from childhood, raised between the English of the missionaries and the Tahitian of the island's inhabitants, Teuira Henry worked as a teacher. Her dual culture allowed her to serve as a bridge between Western scholarship and the words of the elders of Polynesia.
Primary Sources
A collection of the traditions, myths, genealogies, prayers and chants of ancient Tahitian society, gathered from the notes of the Reverend J. M. Orsmond and edited by his granddaughter Teuira Henry.
Ta'aroa was the ancestor of all the gods; he existed before the earth and the sky, alone in his shell, in the darkness, throughout eternity.
Transcriptions of royal genealogies and of prayers addressed to the gods of the marae, accompanied by their English translation.
Key Places
Teuira Henry's native island and the heart of the culture whose traditions she gathered. Hub of colonial French Polynesia.
Administrative capital of the French Settlements in Oceania, a center of missionary and scholarly life where she moved.
Pacific anthropology museum that published her major work in 1928. Keeper of her manuscripts and their scientific legacy.
Great religious center of ancient Polynesia, extensively described in the traditions she compiled. A major sanctuary of the Pacific.
Typical Objects
Notebooks in which Tahitian chants, prayers, and genealogies were recorded, which she inherited, organized, and translated. The material foundation of her entire work.
Sacred stone platform of ancient Polynesia, a place of worship and ceremony described in detail in her transcriptions. The heart of the religious life of the ancient Tahitians.
Wooden drum covered with skin, used during the Polynesian rites and chants she documented. It set the rhythm of the marae ceremonies.
Carved figure representing an ancestor or a protective spirit, found in the religious tales she collected. A witness to sacred Tahitian art.
Polynesian vessel whose navigation techniques and sea chants appear in the traditions she compiled. A symbol of the expansion of the peoples of the Pacific.
Fabric made from beaten bark, used for the garments and offerings described in her texts. A central element of ancient material life.
School Curriculum
Vocabulary & Tags
Key Vocabulary
Tags
Daily Life
Morning
The morning begins early, taking advantage of the tropical coolness. Teuira Henry devotes these bright hours to reading and deciphering the manuscripts inherited from Orsmond, comparing the different versions of the stories.
Afternoon
The afternoon is often taken up with teaching and exchanges with the island elders, the keepers of the chants and genealogies. She records, verifies, and rounds out the oral traditions with her informants.
Evening
In the evening, by lamplight, she puts her translations from English and Tahitian into final form. It is solitary, painstaking work, word by word, to stay faithful to the meaning of the ancient prayers.
Food
The Tahitian diet rests on breadfruit (*uru*), banana, yam, and fresh fish from the lagoon. Coconut and pork cooked in an underground oven (*ahima'a*) round out a table shaped by the island's produce.
Clothing
She wears the long European-style dresses introduced by the missionaries, blending imported cloth with local customs. Around her endure the *pareus* and bark *tapa* of Tahitian tradition.
Housing
She lives in a wooden house in the colonial style, open to the island's lush vegetation. Nearby still stand the traditional *fare* with their roofs of pandanus leaves.
Historical Timeline
Period Vocabulary
Liens externes & ressources
Références
Œuvres
Ancient Tahiti (Tahiti aux temps anciens)
1928 (posthume)
Mise en ordre et traduction des manuscrits d'Orsmond
vers 1890-1915
Transcription du chant de la création de Ta'aroa
fin XIXe — début XXe siècle
Recueil des généalogies royales tahitiennes
fin XIXe — début XXe siècle
Articles savants sur les traditions polynésiennes
à partir de 1911
