# Favona



## Catagrapha

Favona is a suburb of Auckland, New Zealand. It can't be Maori, for Maori has neither _f _nor _v.;_ it's likely of European origin. Where or who is the original Favona in Europe?

Is Favona the singular form of _Favonae_, an ancient Germanic people?


----------



## Olaszinhok

Catagrapha said:


> Favona is a suburb of Auckland


In Italian *favona* is a big broad bean, but I know it does not make any sense...


----------



## Circunflejo

It seems that it means westerly winds and that those are the prevailing winds in the area.


----------



## Stoggler

Olaszinhok said:


> In Italian *favona* is a big broad bean, but I know it does not make any sense...



Well it might make sense, as there is a history of market gardening in that particular area: perhaps beans were grown there.


----------



## Stoggler

Circunflejo said:


> It seems that it means westerly winds and that those are the prevailing winds in the area.



In what language does it mean that?


----------



## entangledbank

But other Polynesian languages do have _f_ and _v_, for example Samoan or Tongan. It would be the equivalent of Maori _whawona_. Is Auckland more likely to have an Italian or an other-Polynesian suburb name? If I drill down on Google Maps, there's a Tongan church on Favona Road. That might be the link.


----------



## Stoggler

entangledbank said:


> But other Polynesian languages do have _f_ and _v_, for example Samoan or Tongan. It would be the equivalent of Maori _whawona_. Is Auckland more likely to have an Italian or an other-Polynesian suburb name? If I drill down on Google Maps, there's a Tongan church on Favona Road. That might be the link.



Migration from the other Polynesian islands dates from mostly from the 1950s and ‘60s, long after the area was named.  It’s unlikely that a non-Māori name would gain official acceptance by pakeha officialdom of the 19th and most of the 20th centuries.

I thought Maori did have an /f/ sound, written as wh, although it can be /ɸ/.


----------



## Circunflejo

Stoggler said:


> In what language does it mean that?


At the page 105 of the vol. 54 of _Records of the Australian Museum_ (published in 2002), it's said that it comes from Latin but there's not a source quoted for that. The text doesn't talk about the suburb Favona but about the favona part of the name of an annelid called Amphictene Favona. However, the official web of the Auckland Council libraries (Auckland Libraries: Māngere street names) agrees with the meaning of westerly wind although they don't quote an etymology for it. The Wikipedia page for neighbouring Mangere says the westerly winds are dominant in Mangere so it makes sense that the meaning of the place is westerly wind(s) but you would need to ask in the Latin forum if that could be Latin as the Australian source says because it's not among the Latin that I know.


----------



## alfaalfa

Ciao


Circunflejo said:


> It seems that it means westerly winds


I come from the north of Apulia. There's a hot wind blowing from the west named _Favonio_


----------



## Abaye

Favonius "favorable" is Latin for Greek Zephyrus, (the god of) west wind.


> The mean high pressure belt in the New Zealand sector of the Southern Hemisphere is centred near 30° S so that westerly winds predominate over the country.


----------



## bearded

alfaalfa said:


> I come from the north of Apulia. There's a hot wind blowing from the west named _Favonio_


So far, I only knew this wind as being a south wind blowing mainly in the Alps (German _Föhn_).
Favonio - Wikipedia
Foehn wind - Wikipedia
Thank you for letting me/us know that it also exists in Apulia (although from the west).  I suspect it is the same as 'garbino' in other It. regions.


----------



## Olaszinhok

As far as I know it's a very hot wind blowing in _Salento_, that is to say, in the South of Apulia, I did not know that it also blows in the _Gargano_ area. As for my previous post, I was clearly joking...


----------



## alfaalfa

bearded said:


> I suspect it is the same as 'garbino' in other It. regions.


 At least on the Adriatic sea side.





Olaszinhok said:


> I did not know that it also blows in the _Gargano_ area.


Mainly in the _Tavoliere delle Puglie/Capitanata_


----------



## bearded

Olaszinhok said:


> As for my previous post, I was clearly joking.


Perhaps you should explain that to foreigners who took you seriously...


----------



## Catagrapha

English has _favonian_. Is _favona _a dialectal form? I would expect _favonius _> _favony _from Latin to English.


----------



## Stoggler

Catagrapha said:


> English has _favonian_. Is _favona _a dialectal form? I would expect _favonius _> _favony _from Latin to English.



An obscure word at best, it’s a very learnèd word and if used would have most people reaching for a dictionary.

There appears to be a historical society in the area who have a website, if someone really wants to know the origin of the name, I’m sure they’d be more than happy to help if you contacted them.


----------



## bearded

On the French (formerly Italian) Còrsica island there is a seaside village called Favona (now Favone in French). Migrations from there to New Zealand?
Favona


----------

