Channels of the Hawaiian Islands of Niʻihau and Lehua. Kumukahi means "first beginning." The Hoʻomoʻa Channel separates the islands of Lehua and Nihoa. Hoʻomoʻa means "to cook." The Hawaiʻiloa Channel to the northwest of the islands of Nihoa. Named after Hawaiʻiloa, hero of an ancient Hawaiian legend about the settling of the Hawaiian Islands. Channels of the Hawaiian Islands In an archipelago like the Hawaiian Islands the water between islands is typically called a "channel" or "passage". Described here are the channels between the islands of Hawaiʻi, arranged from southeast to northwest. The ʻAlenuihāhā separates the island of Hawaiʻi and the island of Maui. The
Hawaiian language the phrase "Hawaiian Language." In Hawaiian, "" means "Hawaiian language", as adjectives follow nouns. Hawaiian is a Polynesian member of the Austronesian language family. It is closely related to other Polynesian languages, such as Samoan, Marquesan, Tahitian, Māori, Rapa Nui (the language of Easter Island) and Tongan. According to Schütz (1994), the Marquesans colonized the archipelago in roughly 300 CE followed by later waves of immigration from the Society Islands and Samoa-Tonga. Their languages, over time, became the Hawaiian language within the Hawaiian Islands. Kimura and Wilson (1983) also state: "Linguists agree that Hawaiian is closely related to Eastern Polynesian,