Tusi`upu Samoa: Volume 1: Samoan to English
By (Author) Semisi Maiai
Little Island Press
Little Island Press
1st January 2010
New Zealand
General
Non Fiction
499.462321
Paperback
468
Width 178mm, Height 254mm
Tusi'upu Samoa is a long-awaited dictionary of Samoan, the first comprehensive work of its sort written by a Samoan, Papaali'i Dr Semisi Ma'ia'i. Volume One contains the Samoan to English text.
Born in the village of Leifiifi on the island of `Upolu, Semisi Ma`ia`i is a doctor of medicine and holds the Samoan orator's title, Papaali`i. He emigrated to New Zealand in 1954 and, after graduation from medical college, married Jenny, a Pakeha New Zealander who was then working as a nurse in Wellington. They moved first to New Plymouth and then to Auckland, where they raised two children. Semisi wrote his Samoan dictionary Tusi 'Upu Samoa over this period. Forty years later, in 2010, it was published by Little Island Press, the first such dictionary to be written by a Samoan. Semisi and Jenny now live in Wellington, where Semisi continues to write.