Kapu

Kapu is the ancient Hawaiian code of conduct of laws in addition to regulations. the kapu system was universal in lifestyle, gender roles, politics as well as religion. An offense that was kapu was often a capital offense, but also often denoted a threat to spiritual power, or theft of mana. Kapus were strictly enforced. Breaking one, even unintentionally, often meant immediate death, Koʻo kapu. The concept is related to taboo in addition to the tapu or tabu found in other Polynesian cultures. The Hawaiian word kapu is ordinarily translated to English as "forbidden", though it also carries the meanings of "keep out", "no trespassing", "sacred", "consecrated", or "holy".

The opposite of kapu is noa, meaning "common" or "free".

Modern usage

The ambiguities in the Polynesian concept from the English segment of abstraction are reflected in the different senses of the word in different national Englishes: in modern use in Hawaii, "kapu" is often substituted for the phrase "No Trespassing" on private property signage. Although kapu can be taken to mean "keep out", kapu has a larger meaning to near residents of Hawaii. By contrast, in New Zealand, the comparable word "tapu" is most always applied in English as meaning "sacred".