Patu
A patu is a generic term for a club or pounder used by the Māori, the indigenous people of New Zealand. The word patu in the Māori language means to strike, hit, beat, or subdue.
Weapons
These types of short-handled clubs were mainly used as a striking weapon. The blow administered with this weapon was a horizontal thrust straight from the shoulder at the enemy’s temple. If the foe could be grasped by the hair then the patu would be driven up under the ribs or jaw. Patu were made from hardwood, whale bone, or stone. The most prestigious material for the patu was pounamu (greenstone). Patu made from pounamu were generally called "mere". Maori decorated the patu by carving into the wood, bone or stone.
Types of patu include:
Macanese Patois
Macanese Creole or Macanese Patois (known as Patuá to its speakers) is a Portuguese-based creole language with a substrate from Malay, Cantonese, also Sinhalese, which was originally spoken by the Macanese community of the Portuguese colony of Macau. It is now spoken by a few families in Macau and in the Macanese diaspora.
On February 20, 2009, the new edition of UNESCO’s Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger classified Patua as a "critically endangered" language. The Atlas puts the number of Patua speakers at 50 as of the year 2000. It underwent decreolization and a shift to Standard Portuguese while Macau was still under Portuguese administration.
The language is also called by its speakers Papia Cristam di Macau ("Christian speech of Macau"), and has been nicknamed Dóci Língu di Macau ("Sweet Language of Macau") and Doci Papiaçam ("sweet speech") by poets. In Portuguese it is called Macaense, Macaista Chapado ("pure Macanese"), or Patuá (from French patois).
History
Patu (genus)
Patu is a genus of spiders in the family Symphytognathidae that occurs in Colombia and Oceania. Patu digua is the smallest species of spider described to date.
Name
The name is possibly derived from some Polynesian term like the Māori patu (a type of short-handed club), Samoan patupatu (with a lumpy shape), fatu (a stone or another hard object) or patutu (to strike or hit something or someone). These terms all imply a rounded shape and hardness (enabling one to strike or hammer something with such an object).
