History of Samoa who brought the tools necessary to create the art of tatau, or in English tattoo, whence came the traditional Samoan "malofie" (also known as "pe'a" for men and as "malu" for women). The foundation of the cultural tradition of Samoa, or the fa'asamoa came with the rise of the warrior queen Nafanua. Her rule instituted traditions of the fa'amatai or local family and village and regional chiefly systems, a decentralized system. Her niece Salamasina continued under this system and their time is considered a golden age of Samoan cultural traditions. For a long period, a Tongan aristocracy ruled in Samoa.
Tahitian language live to a very great age this temporary substitution could become permanent. In the rest of Polynesia "tū" means to stand, but in Tahitian it became "tiʻa", because the word was included in the name of king Tū-nui-ʻēʻa-i-te-atua. Likewise "fetū" (star) has become in Tahiti "fetiʻa" and "aratū" (pillar) became "aratiʻa". Although "nui" (big) still occurs in some compounds, like Tahiti-nui, the usual word is "rahi" (which is a common word in Polynesian languages for 'large'). The term "ʻēʻa" fell in disuse, replaced by "purūmu" or "porōmu". Nowadays "ʻēʻa" means 'path' while "purūmu" means 'road'. Tū also had a nickname,